Manila Standard - 2017 February 12 - Sunday

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VOL. XXXI • NO. 2 • 5 SECTIONS 20 PAGES • P18 • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2017 • www.thestandard.com.ph • editorial@thestandard.com.ph

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EARTHQUAKE SPURS STATE OF CALAMITY

By Francisco Tuyay and John Paolo Bencito

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STATE of calamity was declared in Surigao City and the province of Surigao del Norte on Saturday following a 6.7-magnitude earthquake Friday night, killing six people and injuring 126 others.

Even as residents tried to recover from the deaths and damage of the worst quake to hit northeastern Mindanao since 1800, a weaker magnitude-3.7 temblor hit Cotabato City and its environs Saturday afternoon in Central Mindanao.

But there were no casualties or damage to property from the Cotabato quake which the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and

Seismology said was tectonic in origin, some 20 kilometers east of Cotabato City.

It was much worse in Surigao del Norte whose governor, Sol Matugas, appealed for help as the province is “still in chaos” and some residents are “still in a state of shock” after the quake with an epicenter of tectonic origin 14 km northwest of Surigao City Friday at

around 10:03 p.m.

Most of injured were hurt by falling objects at the height of the earthquake that delivered more than 100 aftershocks since Friday evening, with magnitudes ranging from 2.0 to 3.7.

Malacañang, on the other hand, appealed for prayers following the quake and warned residents of possible aftershocks.

“Let’s be careful. Let’s be cooperative with one another and let us avoid areas where the structures are unsteady and unsure,” Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella told radio dzRB. “Let us continue to—in the spirit of bayanihan. And let us continue to be looking out for one another.

These are trying times and our

A N N I V E RS A RY

hearts go out to, sa mga Surigaonon. Our hearts go out to you, and our prayers also that you shall be safe from danger. We pray also that God will keep on showering his blessings and mercy upon us,” he added.

Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo said Quick Response Teams have already been activated and there are already 8,258 family food packs pre-positioned in the area.

A standby fund amounting to P2,895,921.91 has also been allocated for the government’s immediate response following the quake, she added.

Abella said that the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Turn to A2

BUSINESS/ C2

SILICON VALLEY EXECUTIVE CHANGES PH REMITTANCE

YOUNG LIFE / E1

LOVE IN THE TIME OF SOCIAL MEDIA

WORLD / B4

ABE ENJOYS WARM TRUMP EMBRACE

THE DAY AFTER. While Surigao City streets show few people, the damage of the 6.7-magnitude earthquake is evident in many of its buildings. People, on the other hand, are busy stocking food and water as shown in the inset photo.

SPARE DISASTER AREA, MILITARY ASKS COMMIES

By John Paolo Bencito THE New People's Army on Saturday admitted that it had launched 30 operations against the military after calling off its unilateral ceasefire as it directed its armed militias for “heightened armed resistance” against the government’s all-out war declaration

“Over the past 10 days, responding to orders to carry out active defense, NPA units carried out almost 30 military actions to defend the rights and welfare of the people primarily against AFP troops,” NPA spokesman Jorge “Ka Oris” Madlos said.

“No longer restricted by the active defense policy, the NPA, from hereon, must frustrate the all-out

war of suppression of the AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines] by launching tactical offensives against any legitimate military target,” he added.

One of the operations carried out by the Communist Party of the Philippines’ armed wing, was made last Feb. 1 where they killed three soldiers. The incident prompted Presi-

dent Rodrigo Duterte to scrap the peace talks with the communists.

“NPA operations were launched exclusively against paramilitary groups and uniformed personnel conducting combat, intelligence and psywar operations within the territories of the revolutionary government. A case in point is the Turn to A2

MINERS SCRAMBLE TO HELP GOVT DESPITE the crisis it is facing due to the disputed closure of 23 mines, mining companies on Saturday pooled their resources, activated emergency rescue teams and dispatched them to Surigao City after it was struck by a 6.7-magnitude earthquake Friday evening.

Chamber of Mines of the Philippines chairman Art Disini said relief goods are already being

prepared by the mining firms to be distributed to the affected residents while mine workers professionally trained in rescue missions will be at hand to help government operations.

Among the companies in the area, Nickel Asia Corp. reported that no mine worker or resident in their host communities perished or were hurt during the earthquake. It also reported zero twitter.com/ MlaStandard

damage to its facilities.

Another nickel miner Marcventures Mining and Development Corp. has also dispatched its 10man emergency rescue team to Surigao City to help in rescue operations.

CTP Construction chief executive Carlo Pimentel said their mine workers and residents in host communities are safe but it Turn to A2

facebook.com/ ManilaStandardPH

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FIRST RESPONDERS. The emergency rescue team of nickel miner Marcventures Mining and Development Corp. based in Carrascal, Surigao del Sur prepare to go to Surigao City to help in rescue operations after the earhquake late Friday.

thestandard.com.ph

US, CHINA IN ‘UNSAFE’ ENCOUNTER AT PANATAG WASHINGTON, D.C.—A Chinese military aircraft had an “unsafe” encounter with a US Navy surveillance aircraft near a contested reef in the South China Sea, the US Pacific Command said.

The two planes came within 1,000 feet (300 meters) of each other during Wednesday’s incident near the Scarborough Shoal, which is claimed by both the Philippines and China, according to Pentagon spokesman Jeff Davis.

The close encounter comes amid heightened tensions between the United States and China over Beijing’s moves to establish a presence in disputed areas of the South China Sea by building reefs and atolls into artificial islands.

“An interaction characterized

by US Pacific Command as ‘unsafe’ occurred in international airspace above the South China Sea between a Chinese KJ-200 aircraft and a US Navy P-3C aircraft,” said US Pacific Command spokesman Rob Shuford.

“The US Navy P-3C was on a routine mission operating in accordance with international law.”

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EARTHQUAKE...

PALACE: DRUG WAR BACKED BY PEOPLE T

From A1

Council, led by Civil Defense Director Vicente Tomazar, has coordinated with Taguiwalo and Dr. Renato Solidum of Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology to assess the effects of the quake.

The Palace likewise instructed the Department of Public Works and Highways to immediately start clearing operations and reconstruction in quakeaffected areas.

“The President, I’m sure he wants it to work as quickly as possible in the response... and clear the debris to ensure the quick passage of government relief efforts as soon as possible,” Abella added.

Matugas sought national assistance for the repair of damaged infrastructures—destroying the airport runway, provincial capitol, bridges and buildings, including hospitals, hotels and schools which are threatening safety and affecting the flow of goods to affected areas.

The city remained without power and water supply has not resumed 17 hours after the quake.

Tremors were felt in neighboring provinces, with an Intensity VI recorded in Surigao City and Pintuyan, Southern Leyte; Intensity V in Mandaue City, San Ricardo, Limasawa and San Francisco, Southern Leyte; Intensity IV in Hinunangan, Southern Leyte and Butuan City; Intensity III- Hibokhibok, Camiguin, Tolosa and Tacloban, Leyte, Bislig City, Gingoog City, Misamis Oriental and Intensity II in Cagayan de Oro City, Talocogon City, Agusan del Sur, Dumaguete City, Cebu City.

The quake damaged many buildings, including in the two-story Gaisano mall—one of the city’s largest structures—and shattered windows, sending sharp shards and heavy rubble into the street.

Terrified residents fled to higher ground after the quake, fearing that a tsunami would hit the coastal city of over 152,000 people while others spent the night in parking lots and open fields.

One bridge collapsed and two others were damaged in the quake, which also cracked the city airport’s runway, forcing flights to be diverted, the civil defense office added.

Following damages sustained by the Surigao airport, Matugas said that it will need to be closed for a month, with aid from the national government having to be flown to Butuan airport, a two-hour drive from the city.

“The airport should be repaired immediately. The DPWH should also look into the bridges that collapsed. We have structural engineers but I’d also like national [officials] to confirm,” Matugas said.

Provincial information officer Mary Jul Espuerte said the Lipata Terminal, which connects the “roll-on, roll-off ” (RORO) for both private and public utility vehicles, has also been temporarily closed.

The “Lipata Port” was not damaged, but a bridge leading to the port terminal was closed due to damage from the quake, she added.

Espuerte said the provincial government is coordinating with various government line agencies in a bid to bring back normalcy to the city and the province as soon as possible. With AFP and PNA

By John Paolo Bencito

HERE is no “mounting opposition” to President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody war on drugs, Malacañang claimed on Saturday, as it slammed United Nations rapporteur Agnes Callamard for saying that the thousands of deaths in the government’s anti-illegal drugs campaign had given rise to a sense of impunity.

“What she’s saying that there’s a mounting opposition, it’s a minority voice that favors liberal politics,” Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella told state-run dzRB radio.

“However, on the ground, it’s really a different situation here in the Philippines, and if you’ll base it on public opinion, we really made big strides. So in terms of support ... Do you expect support to come from

ics of the president, like Callamard, have vested interests to start with.

“What we hear from outside are mainly criticisms. And I suppose that it’s also their role. But we also have to understand that, we also have to understand that those critics are also voices of other forces that are trying to, they also have their own agenda,” he said.

Abella added that Duterte continues to “reconfigure and rebalance” his war on the illegal drug menace.

“The President has been consistently very strong in protecting the interest of the nation and maybe it’s what some people don’t appreciate too much,” he said, saying public opinion showed that Filipinos support Duterte’s war on illegal drugs. “[Duterte] is very persistent in pursuing and making sure that the— apparatus of drugs is destroyed,” he added.

EXPLAINING THE SCIENCE. Renowned volcanologist Renato Solidum Jr. points to the epicenter 6.7-magnitude earthquake that rocked eastern

Mindanao on Friday. Manny Palmero

PHIVOLCS WARNS OF SURIGAO AFTERSHOCKS

By Catherine J. Teves THE Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology warned of further aftershocks from the 6.7-magnitude earthquake that hit Surigao City and Surigao del Norte Friday night.

Phivolcs science research analyst Paulo Sawi cautioned against occupying structures already damaged by the earthquake, warning aftershocks can further harm these.

“People must avoid staying inside

US, ...

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Davis said the Chinese aircraft essentially “crossed the nose” of the American plane, causing it to “make an immediate turn.”

“We don’t see any evidence that it was intentional,” the spokesman said, adding that the incident appeared to be a “one-off ” encounter.

“Clearly we have our disagreements with China over militarization of South China Sea,” he said, adding that interactions between ships and planes are “largely professional and safe.”

The KJ-200 is an airborne early warning and command plane, while the P-3 is a maritime surveillance aircraft.

The Pacific Command said it would address the issue “in appropriate diplomatic and military channels.”

A Chinese defense ministry official told The Global Times that the Chinese pilot had responded “legally and professionally” to the US plane when it approached the aircraft.

“We hope that the US could take the bilateral military relations into consideration and adopt practical measures to eliminate the root cause of air and sea mishaps between the two countries,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

China asserts sovereignty over almost all of the resource-rich region despite rival claims from Southeast Asian neighbors and has rapidly built reefs into artificial islands capable of hosting military planes. AFP

outside? [or] Would you expect support from inside?”

Following a recent survey, Callamard said that while the President remains popular, there is already an increasing opposition against Duterte’s drug war, which has already killed more than 7,600 people, mostly drug users and smalltime dealers, since he took office.

“The difference between the

number of reported killings and the number of court cases is unbelievable,” Callamard said in a Reuters report. “It’s very unusual for that degree of impunity to remain restricted to one kind of crime or one type of community,” she added.

“There is an increasing awareness on the part of the Filipino people that the war on drugs could hurt them. The surveys that are being done indicate support for the president…but critique the war on drugs,” the rapporteur said.

In a separate tweet, the UN rapporteur reminded Duterte that his war on drugs “is not just a waste of money” but could also “make the problem worse,” following the unsolicited advice given by former Colombian President Cesar Gaviria that the trash-talking Philippine leader is repeating his mistakes.

Abellla, however, said that the crit-

and even going near such structures,” he said.

He urged such precaution, expecting in forthcoming days further aftershocks from the earthquake.

“Owners must have their earthquake-damaged structures checked first so repair work can be done if this is still possible,” he said.

Phivolcs Director Renato Solidum sees need for the public to learn anticipating natural hazards’ consequences and to act on these accordingly.

“It’s important to be always ready

MINERS...

tion and Management Council said families in Surigao del Norte’s capital Surigao City evacuated to higher ground there, fearing possible onslaught of tsunamis.

Solidum sees nothing wrong with such evacuation even if Phivolcs assured the earthquake won’t generate tsunamis, however.

He noted the evacuation was still better than having no precautionary action as occurrence of a “strong” earthquake like Friday’s tremblor is among indications a tsunami might ensue. PNA

SPARE...

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is still assessing its facilities.

Emergency response teams from CTP are already on standby and are coordinating with the Bureau of Fire Protection and partner government agencies to see how the company could ably assist in post disaster efforts.

According to Pimentel, CTP will see to providing immediate needs such as temporary shelters and clean water.

He assured that mining companies in Surigao are working hand in hand to help our kababayans in need.

Meanwhile, Silangan Mining also reported no major damage or injuries to Silangan facilities and personnel. Their emergency rescue teams are on standby in case needed.

Meanwhile, Philippine Stock Exchange president Hans Sicat said Friday the Department of Environment and Natural Resources should be more cautious in its regulatory actions, following the closure of 23 mines in the country that could affect 1.5 million Filipinos.

At a press conference of the Philip-

to react correctly,” Solidum said after a magnitude 6.7 undersea earthquake of tectonic origin jolted Surigao del Norte province’s vicinity late Friday night.

Latest Phivolcs data show the 10:03 p.m. offshore earthquake this Friday struck 14 kms north 78° west of Surigao del Norte’s Surigao City at a depth of 11 kms only.

Less than an hour after the earthquake struck, Phivolcs said available data indicate this event would unlikely generate a tsunami.

National Disaster Risk Reduc-

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pine Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Taguig City, Sicat tagged the announcement of DENR Secretary Regina Paz Lopez of closure and suspension of 28 mining firms as “worrisome trend” and “very irresponsible move.”

“What we saw last week, we believe that there was a surprise announcement in media of a suspension, closure of mining firms including those companies that are publicly listed. We thought this is actually a worrisome trend, if not, a very irresponsible move from the DENR,” the PSE chief said.

“This creates a huge issue for those operating the stock exchange,” he added.

Sicat mentioned that the announcement of the DENR has created confusion in the market, while global prices of nickel have increased by 7.0 to 8.0 percent when the result came out.

“It’s interesting that an announcement from a particular agency can move global prices,” he said, noting the importance of consistency in government policies. PNA

Feb. 1 encounter between the NPA and troops of the 8th IB which had been occupying Barangays Kibalabag and Manalog, 36 kilometers from the center of Malaybalay City, Bukidnon,” Madlos said.

NDF senior adviser Luis Jalandoni earlier branded the incident as a “rubout,” while the military described the incident as a complete “overkill.”

Madlos said that included in the NPA’s list of targets are active members of the AFP, Philippine National Police, AFP militiamen, police detachments and military camps.

But the Armed Forces of the Philippines urged Saturday rebel forces not to attack soldiers who are tasked to bring aid to victims of the earthquake that hit Surigao del Norte province Friday night.

“We urge you not to attack our soldiers, or in any other way disrupt the AFP’s rescue and rehabilitation activities for our people,” AFP public affairs office chief, Col. Edgard Arevalo, said

Saturday.

“Allow the soldiers every opportunity to help the victims of the earthquake.”

Immediately after the magnitude-6.7 earthquake hit Surigao City, 4th Infantry Division commander Maj. Gen. Benjamin Madrigal Jr. immediately deployed his men to assist the victims of the quake and conduct damage assessment.

Meanwhile, 30th Infantry Battalion commander, Lt. Col. Rico Amaro also coordinated with the respective risk reduction and management offices of Surigao del Norte and Surigao City for disaster response operations.

“Troops, vehicles and the ambulance of the 30th Infantry Battalion were prepositioned for casualty evacuation and the evacuation of affected families,” Arevalo added.

At about 7 a.m. Saturday, 402nd Infantry Brigade head Col. Franco Nemesio Gacal, proceeded to Surigao City for a disaster response emergency meeting at the provincial capitol of Surigao del Norte. With PNA

News

TAIWAN TARGETS 11 MILLION FOREIGN TOURISTS BY 2017

By Sara Susanne D. Fabunan

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AIPEI—The Taiwan government, noting arrivals from Southeast Asia, including the Philippines, is targeting this year 11 million foreign tourists to visit the East Asian state, the most populous nation that is not a member of the United Nations.

In an interview, Taiwan Tourism Bureau media coordinator Jerry Chen, who toured at least seven journalists around some provinces of Taiwan, said to attract more nationals from neighboring countries to visit Taiwan, its government under President Tsai Ing-Wen was opening or even continuing cooperation with Southeast Asian countries to boost its tourism industry. “[The number] of tourists visiting Taiwan is increasing. It was the first time we reached

10 million tourists in 2016...and right now we are looking forward to have 11 or 12 million people visiting Taiwan,” Chen told the journalists from different Asean countries, in an interview.

Asean, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, was founded in 1967 “to strengthen further the existing bonds of regional solidarity and cooperation.”

From the original five member countries, Asean has grown to 10 members covering more than 1.7 million square miles—over half

the size of the continental United States—and a population of 626 million with an economy valued at $2.4 trillion.

Chen said peoples from Asean countries are now starting to be “more aware” about Taiwan’s food, culture and history.

At present, Taiwan is trying to negotiate to ease its visa process for all Asean countries for them to be able to visit the place.

Aside from that, Chen said Taipei is also inviting foreign artists to hold exhibition or promote further its history and culture to attract more foreign travelers to visit Taiwan.

“We wanted to strengthen and continue our ongoing relationship with each [of the] Asean countries,” he said.

Part of boosting its ties with the Asean countries, Taiwan is eyeing to establish tourism offices aside from its consulate

in each country.

Based from the Taiwan Tourism Bureau data, the number of Filipinos visiting Taiwan in 2016 increased by 23.89 percent or 172,475.

He said almost all tourists from Asean countries visiting Taiwan have increased, including Thailand, with 57.26 percent growth or 195,640 tourists last year; Vietnam with 34.33 percent or 196,636, among others.

“Neighboring countries are starting to be more aware about Taiwan,” Chen said, adding Taiwan has set up its Tourism office in the Philippines.

So far, through the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Manila, the Tourism office is now opening a cooperation link with several travel agencies in the Philippines to offer affordable tour for Filipino travelers to Taiwan.

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SSS SEEKS ARREST OF DOCTOR, EXECUTIVE

By Butch Gunio THE crackdown against delinquent employers continues as the Social Security System, in cooperation with Philippine National Police, served warrants of arrest on a doctorowner of a dermatology clinic and a president of a shipping company.

They were identified due to nonpayment and non-remittance of SSS contributions, a violation of the Social Security Act of 1997.

First to be issued the warrant last Feb. 2 was Dr. Joel C. Mendez, owner of the Weigh Less Center at Farmer’s Plaza in Cubao, convicted by the Regional Trial Court of Quezon City and sentenced to a jail term of six years and one day as minimum to seven years as maximum.

Based on the decision, Mendez has a total delinquency of P1,865,657.50, representing unpaid contributions from October 2011 to January 2013 with an interest of three percent per month from July 2015 until full payment.

The PNP went to Mendez’s residence in Barangay Talipapa, Quezon City to serve the warrant of arrest but he was not at home. The house helpers said Mendez now lived in the province.

On the same day, a warrant of arrest was supposed to be served on Peter Nicholas M. Toundjis II, president of Niovis Shipping Co. F.A./ El Greco Ship Manning and Management Corp. due to non-payment and nonremittance of SSS contributions.

The accused was sentenced to a jail term of six years and one day, and ordered to pay the collectible delinquency and penalties worth P324,122.64.

VEHICULAR ACCIDENTS IN NCR RISE IN 2016—MMDA

By Joel E. Zurbano

JOB PLACEMENT. Some 500 surrenderers from ‘Oplan Tokhang’ adopted by the Quezon City Anti-Drug Abuse Advisory Council go through a Profiling and Orientation for a Job Fair, with Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte and QC Police District Director Chief Supt. Guillermo Eleazar giving support and counsel to the 500. Manny Palmero

PORT OF MANILA TOPS P5.6-B REVENUE TARGET

SOFT SHELL MESSAGE. Cornell Club of the Philippines president Martin Romualdez delivers Saturday a compassionate message during the club membership meeting at the Manila Golf and Country Club in Makati City, discussing the alumni program to help scholars in their chosen fields of discipline. Ver Noveno

THE Port of Manila has surpassed its P5.6-billion revenue target for the month of January by more than P2 billion, District Collector Rhea Gregorio said on Saturday.

“The PoM surpassed its January target of P5.68 billion with a total cash collection of P5.8 billion, a surplus of 2.53 percent. It’s been a while since PoM reached or surpassed its target, a great way to start the year,” said Gregorio.

Aside from the increased volume of importation last month, Gregorio also attributed the surplus to the good performance and continuing effort of department heads and subports under her office to collect more revenues.

“All the collecting offices and subports under Port of Manila worked together to achieve our target for January, led

by Harbor Center which had the most surplus from their bulk and break bulk

collections,” Gregorio said.

“Other factors would be an increased coordination and efficiency from all offices within the Port of Manila, and of course the confidence and support from the Office of the Commissioner,” she added.

Gregorio was the head of the Customs Interim Customs Accreditation and Registration Unit and Compliance Monitoring Unit before she was designated as district collector of the Port of Manila, one of the biggest and so-called “billionaires ports” of the bureau, last December.

“As I have mentioned when I assumed my post last December, it should be a combination of internal and external factors coming together, this means the whole of Port of Manila working hard as a team and with the right trade volumes coming in and economic atmosphere present,” she said. Joel E. Zurbano

THE number of vehicular accidents in the National Capital Region rose in 2016 by 13,707 to 109,322 from the 95,615 the previous year, an annual report from the Metro Manila Development Authority showed.

Based on the data collated by the MMDA through its Metro Manila Accident Recording and Analysis System program, a total of 426 people were killed while 16,416 others were injured in road accidents.

The 2016 program report showed reckless motorcycle riding remained the top cause of deaths and injuries in streets of the metropolis.

It said motorcycles had the “highest fatality accident rate” with 218 the total number of deaths, followed by trucks (103) and private cars (98).

The records said 23,105 motorcycles were involved in road accidents last year.

Motorcycles also topped the list of vehicles with the most number of injuries at 11,456, followed by cars (7,544), and public utility jeepneys (1,922).

The program, created by the MMDA, aimed at improving road management in the metropolis, recorded 519 deaths and 17,103 injuries involving motorcycles in 2015.

Quezon City recorded the highest number of accidents last year with 33,717 followed by Makati (12,505) and Manila (11,307).

Pateros, on the other hand, has the lowest number of road incidents in 2016, followed by Navotas and Malabon.

“We can now consider these LGU’s [local government units] to be the safest in Metro Manila in terms of road crash incidents, since they have lesser recorded fatal, non-fatal and damage to property incidents in the [program] database up to this date,” the MMDA report said.

Quezon City also topped the list of cities in terms of fatalities with 116 deaths in 2016, followed by Manila (66) and Parañaque (37).

Government records showed most road accidents happen because of undisciplined motorists, drunk driving and the use of mobile phones while driving.

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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2017 Francis S. Lagniton, Issue Editor mst.daydesk@gmail.com

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‘ATTEND HEARINGS ON TAX MEASURES’

ONGRESSMEN on Saturday criticized Cabinet members for not attending hearings on the comprehensive tax reform package being pushed by the Duterte administration, and compelled them to attend the discussions on the measure in the House committee on ways and means meeting on Monday.

In a statement, House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and Majority Leader Rodolfo C. Fariñas blasted Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade, Information and Communications Secretary Rodolfo Salalima, and Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo for not being available to answer lawmakers’ questions on the tax proposals.

The Speaker also noted the absence of Bureau of Internal Revenue Commissioner Caesar Dulay during the last hearing, and asked Deputy Commissioner Nestor Valeroso to re-

lay to Dulay to submit his proposal on how to collect taxes from casinos.

The tax reform package, pushed primarily by the Department of Finance, is contained in House Bill 4688 authored by Rep. Joey S. Salceda (2nd District, Albay) and HB 4774 by Rep. Dakila Carlo Cua (Lone District, Quirino), also known as the proposed “Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act.” In the last hearing, Fariñas told representatives of the departments concerned: “Pinapapunta ninyo kami lahat dito sa hearing dahil may gusto kayong measure. Ayaw naming mag-

tax dahil galit ang tao sa tax. Ang DOF gusto i-kolekta agad, di pa nga kayo nakaka-collect sa existing taxes.

What happens is we are penalizing the diligent taxpayer. Pumunta naman kayo rito. Ipakita naman ninyo na this measure is very important.” “[You ask us all to come to this hearing because you are pushing this measure. We don’t want to impose taxes because the people are mad at taxes.

The DOF wants these taxed collected right away, but you haven’t even collected the existing taxes. Come here.

Show us that this measure is very important]” Fariñas said.

Finance Undersecretary Karl Chua represented Dominguez, and Transportation Assistant Secretary Ed Galvante represented Tugade in the last hearing.

Alvarez added: “Pwedeng pakisabi sa DoE Secretary na magpadala ng mga tao dito na kayang sagutin yung mga tanong kasi sinasayang

natin ang oras natin lahat dito. Tigilan muna ‘yung position papers at di tayo matatapos. And tell him [Energy Secretary Cusi] to attend the meeting next time.” “[Please tell the DOE Secretary to send people here that can answer our questions, because if not we’re all wasting our time here. Stop making position papers, or else we’ll never get this done,]” the Speaker said.

Alvarez and Fariñas stressed the importance of the Cabinet officials’ presence in the next hearings of the committee chaired by Cua, after their representatives and agency heads failed to adequately respond to lawmakers’ queries on the impact of higher taxes on certain sectors.

The Speaker asked lawyer Margaret Dacatimbang of the DOE legal service to relay the House leadership’s message to Cusi, especially their concerns on the higher excise taxes on petroleum products.

abounds with fresh flowers in all varieties and colors for Valentine's Day. Ey Acasio

NO ‘PUSH’ FOR DEATH PENALTY BILL THE House of Representatives will not exert any effort to convince the Senate to support the passage of the death penalty bill, Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said.

“We are not dependent on them. It is up to them if they will pass it or not,” Alvarez said Saturday.

But as far as the House is concerned, Alvarez said lawmakers are duty-bound to perform its legislative function to ensure the

passage of Palace-backed measures, including the death penalty bill.

“Nobody can control the House on what [it wants] to do. I do not care [if the Senate will not support it]. It is not my concern. I just have to do my duty,” Alvarez said.

The Speaker also said he is not inclined to talk to Senate President Koko Pimentel to secure a solid Senate vote for the proposed revival of capital punishment.

“He [Pimentel] is an intelligent man. They know the

death penalty bill is a priority bill of the administration. I do not see any reason to talk to him about it,” Alvarez said.

The Death Penalty Law, or Republic Act 7659, was abolished in 1986 by President Corazon Aquino. It was restored by President Fidel V. Ramos in 1993, and was again suspended in 2006 by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Alvarez earlier warned that House leaders will be stripped of their posts if they vote against the Palacebacked death penalty bill.

CULTURAL SHOW. Students from different schools in Quezon City perform during the 23rd 'Alay ng Rotary sa Araw ng Kabataan' arts and culture competition at the Amoranto Stadium. Manny Palmero

WRIT OF AMPARO GRANTED TO KIN OF QC ‘TOKHANG’ VICTIMS THE Court of Appeals has granted the writ of amparo petition filed by Center for International Law on behalf of the families of slain drug suspects in “Oplan Tokhang” operations in Payatas, Quezon City last August.

In a three-page resolution dated Feb. 10, the CA’s 14th Division granted the writ to protect the families of “tokhang” victims “whose rights to life, liberty and security are violated or threatened from alleged harassment and intimidation by the police.”

Associate Justice Apolinario Bruselas penned the resolution,

concurred by Associate Justices Danton Bueser and Renato Francisco.

The CA also adopted the Supreme Court’s directive last week to prohibit the respondent police officers and their agents from entering within a one-kilometer radius from the residence and work addresses of the petitioners.

The petition was originally filed before the Supreme Court, which issued a temporary protection order and ordered the appellate court to hear the issue.

The high court also pre-

vented operatives of Quezon City’s Police Station 6, which conducted the operation in the area last August, from entering the homes and workplaces of the petitioners within a onekilometer radius.

The petition against the “tokhang,” the first since the Duterte administration launched a sustained war against illegal drugs in July last year, asked the SC to protect the families from police harassment and intimidation, and to suspend anti-drug operations in the community and in all areas under the jurisdiction

of QCPD Station 6 while the case is being heard.

The petitioners include Efren Morillo, Martino Morillo, Victoria Morillo, Ma. Belen Daa, Marla Daa, Maribet Bartolay, Lydia Gabo, Jennifer Nicolas and Marilyn Malimban.

In the resolution, the CA said “there being no dispute that the allegations in the petition are supported by substantial evidence, the privilege of the writ is granted the following dispositions.”

Policemen prohibited from approaching the petitioners in-

A LAWMAKER on Saturday urged the Departments of Energy and Finance and two more agencies to draw up the rules and regulations for his proposed carbon tax on electricity consumption.

The House bill is meant to help the Duterte administration climate-proof communities highly vulnerable to erratic weather patterns and other devastating effects of global warming, Camarines Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte said.

Villafuerte also proposed the DoE draw up guidelines on how to exempt residential consumers whose monthly power usage does not exceed 60 kilowatt-hours or those whose electricity comes from renewable energy sources from the “eco-friendly” tax.

The solon’s proposal, House Bill 4739, also asks the Environment and Budget departments to draw up the rules necessary to implement this proposed law taxing carbon dioxide emissions.

The proceeds of the tax “are to be used solely for programs designed to help high-risk Philippine communities better adapt to the adverse effects of climate change,” Villafuerte said.

HB 4739 also mandates the DoE to issue a certificate to residential consumers using renewable energy sources so they can be exempted from the tax.

“This proposed legislation is timely given that the country’s agriculture sector, which employs a third of the labor force, would be extremely vulnerable to devastating weather events less than 15 years from now,”Villafuerte said.

He was referring to a Department of Agriculture study that found the country’s major rice and corn production areas as “highly sensitive to temperature and water availability” and would therefore be most affected by extreme weather events such as the El Niño and La Niña phenomena by 2030.

Villafuerte noted that in the last quarter of 2016, the agriculture sector pulled down GDP (gross domestic product) growth—although he allowed October-December growth was still high at 6.6 percent—because of the destructive effects of typhoons “Karen” and “Lawin” on farm crops during this period. Maricel V. Cruz

TOP IMPORTERS GO UNDER BOC MICROSCOPE

VALENTINE'S GIFTS. The Dangwa Flower Market along Dos Castillas Street in Manila

By Maricel V. Cruz

SOLON ASKS DOE, DOF FOR CARBON TAX RULES

clude P/SI Emil S. Garcia, P03 Allan Formilleza, P01 James Aggarao and P01 Melchor Navisaga, “and any of their agents.”

The CA ordered the reassignment of the respondents “to police offices outside Quezon City and Montalban, Rizal” while the implementation of Oplan Tokhang “shall remain suspended with respect to the petitioners.”

The CA stressed the petitioners should be furnished by the Police Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management with a copy of the results of the investigation of the incident. PNA

THE Bureau of Customs will investigate top companies engaged in oil and motor vehicles importation and cigarette manufacturers that could be involved in smuggling, which has caused the government to lose more than P50 billion in revenues a year.

Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon ordered the bureau’s intelligence division to probe importers of the top three products, after receiving reports that oil, luxury cars, and cigarettes were among the preferred goods being smuggled into the country.

Faeldon said oil smuggling is common through pilferage, siphoning off oil from tankers to barges in high seas, and then to oil trucks on land delivery to depots.

“Smuggling of luxury vehicles are carried out through misdeclaration, misclassification, and or undervaluation, while cigarette smugglers use fake tax stamps of the Bureau of Internal Revenue,” he said.

These products are currently the top sources of BIR’s revenue leaks, feared to hit more than P50 billion per year, or 10.68 percent of the annual revenue target of P467.9 billion, Faeldon said.

According to reports of the American think tank Global Financial Integrity and the International Monetary Fund, in oil smuggling alone, the government loses an estimated P22.5 billion annually.

The Philippines loses P16 billion a year from illegal cigarette sales, and an estimated revenue leak of P21 billion in vehicle smuggling, the GFI and IMF added.

“The rampant smuggling of luxury cars into the country is attributed to Filipinos’ new trend and flair for modish and majestic cars, believed to be inspired by the modernity of times,” Faeldon said. Vito Barcelo

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POP GOES THE WORLD JENNY ORTUOSTE

THE IDIOT

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money laundering—and investing in sustainable development.”

He adds, citing the spate of killings that have characterized Duterte’s war: “The fight against drugs has to be balanced so that it does not infringe on the rights and well-being of citizens.”

It’s an unwinnable war, Gaviria says, as he expresses hope that Duterte does not fall into the same trap.

But almost on impulse, and likely before he even read the oped piece, Mr. Duterte descended into his usual folly of talking foul against anybody who dared criticize him, no matter how well-meaning and constructive the criticism is.

The President also said he is taking full responsibility for the actions of law enforcers

N SEPTEMBER last year, Philippine National Police Chief Ronald dela Rosa went to Colombia to “exchange notes” with that country’s leaders in the fight against illegal drugs.

Colombia has been dealing with powerful drug cartels that have earned for it the reputation of being the world’s primary supplier of cocaine.

There is less confidence in Colombians these days. President Rodrigo Duterte now says its former president, Cesar Gaviria, is an idiot.

In an op-ed piece published in the New York Times last week, Gaviria, who was president from 1990 to 1994, urged Mr. Duterte to reconsider his approach to tackling illegal drugs.

“Trust me, I learned the hard way,” Gaviria said, under whose term the notorious trafficker Pablo Escobar was taken down.

The war against illegal drugs, the former Colombian president wrote, cannot be won by armed forces and law enforcement agencies alone. His ruthless campaign

notwithstanding, the government failed to eradicate drug production, trafficking and consumption and pushed drugs and crime into neighboring countries.

Gaviria now supports a new approach—“one that strips out the profits that accompany drug sales while ensuring the basic human rights and public health of all citizens.”

Gaviria tells Duterte that military hardware, repressive policing and bigger prisons are the answer. “Real reductions in drug supply and demand will come through improving public health and safety, strengthening anti-corruption measures— especially those that combat

FILLING A BOOKSHELF SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA—A friend who saw some photos of the apartment I recently moved into in this area sent me a message about my bookshelf.

It’s a six-shelf Billy from Ikea, about the plainest design you can imagine to maximize space, and crammed top to bottom with books acquired within the four months I’ve lived here.

She asked, “How do you choose what books to buy?”

Every reader has their own criteria, but for those who’d like to try putting their reading in an organized path, going by categories would help them make sure they have what they need at hand.

For myself, these are the categories I take into consideration: 1. Hobbies and crafts: These are the activities that fill some of your leisure time. What are the ones you’d like to learn or develop? Woodworking, interior design, cooking? Ask yourself what you’re eager to learn, and go on from there.

I learn better when I self-study because I can move at my own pace, and I’m pretty good at following directions, so at various times, I’ve bought books and magazines to teach myself patchwork and quilting, crossstitch, sketching, watercolor painting, surface embroidery, and crochet. It turns out I don’t have an aptitude for the latter so I’m still on the lookout for books that will be useful to me in that regard.

2. Fiction: You might like young adult, or romance, or fantasy, and buy a lot of books in those genres.

But do you sometimes feel like you’re stuck in a rut and want to move on?

Or have you come across references to certain personages, things, words, or events in popular culture that you’d like to get a handle on—say, “Chtulhu,” or “little grey cells,” or “Jeeves?” (The first is a character in the works of horror writer HP Lovecraft, the second from the Hercule Poirot detective stories of Agatha Christie, and the third from the Bertie Wooster novels of PG Wodehouse.)

If you’d like to gain a deeper understanding into such works and why they are often referred to, up to now, then pick up several books by the writers you are interested in and immerse yourself in them. The aim is to pick up the pattern of how they write, or narrative arcs that they are partial to. This is also how to recognize the style of a certain writer and the shape that their stories frequently take.

Another suggestion for getting off the beaten path: pick a popular book from a genre you don’t usually read. Ask a friend who’s into that for a recommendation. It might spark some interesting conversations.

3. Non-fiction: If you’re in school, there might be topics you need to gain mastery in. For instance, Philippine history, or cultural anthropology, or philosophy. Acquire the books you need along those lines. My shelves have books on cultural studies and semiotics because I’ve decided I would like to focus my work around those disciplines. This works the same too if

whom he has tasked to combat the drug menace. “I will answer for everything that I ordered,” he said.

Duterte also split hairs and said the Philippines’ situation is different from Colombia’s. They deal with cocaine and marijuana, he said, while we are dealing with the virulent effects of shabu.

Again we are at a loss on whether to take the President’s word at face value or apply creative imagination to decipher a profound message from a confounding man.

Mr. Duterte may just be acting in character—the maverick leader who will not be lectured by anybody—but it’s a character that is fast becoming trite and exasperating, especially since the results we have been seeing are far from ideal.

Nobody has the monopoly of good sense and wise solutions. But anybody can get drunk silly with arrogance and power.

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XXX THOUGHTS LONG STORY SHORT ADELLE CHUA

THIS newspaper turned 30 yesterday.

The theme of the celebration, as we know from the anniversary supplement that came out Friday, was Triple X: How we write 30 in Roman numerals, but also a celebration of experience, excellence

and excitement.

X is for experience. This newspaper began in 1987, just as a new chapter in Philippine history was beginning. At that time, there were high hopes and fresh ideas. The decades that

followed showed us that history is made up of remarkable days and an aggregate of unremarkable ones. This newspaper saw many changes, and highs and lows.

There are good days and bad. We are still here.

The second X is for excellence.

One cannot be brilliant all the time, of course. It suffices that every day, its people strive to deliver the kind of journalism that should be, instead of that which just is. There are many Turn to B2

Rolando G. Estabillo Publisher can be accessed at: thestandard.com.ph

Benjamin Philip G. Romualdez Former Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno

Philippine Press Institute The National Association of Philippine Newspapers

Anita F. Grefal Baldwin R. Felipe Edgar M. Valmorida

ManilaStandard

Published Monday to Sunday by Philippine Manila Standard Publishing Inc. at 6/F Universal Re Building, 106 Paseo de Roxas, corner Perea St., Legaspi Village, Makati City. Telephone numbers 832-5554, 832-5556, 832-5558 (connecting all departments), (Editorial) 832-5554, (Advertising) 832-5550. P.O. Box 2933, Manila Central Post Office, Manila. Website: www.thestandard. com.ph; e-mail: contact@thestandard.com.ph

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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

TRUMP’S CHANCE TO WALK BACK HIS ASIA BLUSTER

By Noah Feldman US PRESIDENT D on ald Trump’s phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping and the weekend visit of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are important reminders of a basic reality: While Americans obsess over the constitutionality of the president’s executive order on immigration, the rest of the world keeps on going. Measured by number of people it affects, foreign policy outranks domestic affairs. If Trump manages to create diplomatic chaos in Asia, history won’t pay much attention to the rest of his presidency.

The call with Xi, in which Trump agreed to continue the US’ “One China” policy, was a sign of foreign policy rationality—and a recognition that the US is weaker relative to China than Trump seems to have imagined before he took office.

As if to prove it, Xi used Trump-style tactics before the call, insisting that he wouldn’t get on the phone unless Trump agreed in advance to embrace One China. That’s more or less what Trump did to Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, insisting that Nieto shouldn’t come to Washington unless he agreed in advance to pay for a wall along the US-Mexico border.

The difference, of course, is that Nieto didn’t knuckle under, preferring to give up the visit, and Trump did. It can’t have been pleasant for Trump to admit that, as the White House put it, he “agreed, at the request of President Xi, to honor our One China policy.” But Trump had little choice.

He couldn’t forgo all communication with the leader of the second-mostinfluential country in the world.

In practice, One China means only that if a country wants to have diplomatic relations with China, it can’t also have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

US presidents since Richard Nixon have been prepared to live with this.

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and US President Donald Trump shake hands after a press conference in the East Room of the White House Feb. 10, 2017 in Washington. AFP

But Trump called the policy into question in December through his much-publicized phone call with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen. Then, Trump told Fox News, “I don’t know why we have to be bound by a One China policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade.”

Trump now has an answer to his question: The reason the US has to be bound by the policy is that it would lose too much by abandoning it. The price that China could extract would be much too high for any benefit that might be gained by creating diplomatic ties with Taiwan.

And that benefit would certainly be minimal. The US has very close de facto ties to Taiwan, including a purposefully vague quasi-commitment to defending it from Chinese attack.

The only reason to end the One China policy would have been to use it as a bargaining chip with China. Trump clearly thought that he might be able to gain concessions from doing so.

Xi’s point in making the policy a condition of the phone call was to show Trump that he can’t change the terms of the bargain between the two countries unilaterally. This round went to Xi. Abe’s visit affords Trump another opportunity to walk back hostile comments and conduct Asia policy rationally. On the campaign trail, Trump sharply criticized the traditional USJapan relationship, characterized by US security guarantees and strong trade ties. Among other things, Trump said the US should be “prepared to walk” in negotiations with Japan, leaving it to “defend itself against North Korea.”

It might be good strategy in a real estate deal to be able to walk away from the table at any time. But that’s preposterous coming from a superpower, particularly one that has sought for almost 75 years to maintain its

LOVE AND CHEMISTRY

By Pecier Decierdo THAT loving feeling, like the feeling of wanting to vomit, or the feeling of getting drunk, or that feeling of dread one feels under mortal peril, is a product of a chemical cascade in the brain. That fact does not rob falling in love of its glory, not by one bit. Hence, we shouldn’t say, “Love is merely a set of chemical reactions.” Rather we should say, “Love is a set of chemical reactions. Let ‘em react!”

At the heart of the matter is a group of chemicals called hormones. Hormones are molecules produced by certain glands in the body that target a variety of organs that affect not only how we feel, but also how we behave.

Remember that moment when your crush walks up to you, especially that specific moment when he or she stopped right in front of you and smiled? Now on a totally unrelated note, did you remember that feeling you had when you were about to defend your thesis, or when you were walking alone down a dark alley and you see a silhouette emerge from the corner a few steps ahead of you?

Chances are, in those instances you felt butterflies in your stomach. At the same time, your heart was probably racing and your breathing was frantic. That’s adrenaline, a hormone produced by small glands above each of your kidneys. Adrenaline plays a crucial role in the flight-or-fight response, which is our body’s response to situations that seem threatening.

Isn’t it funny that love brings about the same reaction as wanting to flee from or fight against a perceived eminent danger? Make what you will of that fact.

When adrenaline is produced, the faster

pumping of the heart increases blood pressure and directs more blood into the muscles to prepare for the fleeing or the fighting. This results in less blood in the guts, which is what gives you that butterfly in your stomach feeling.

Next is oxytocin, often called the “cuddle hormone,” so-called because it gets released from the pituitary gland during intimate bonding moments. It might even be produced when pet owners play with their dog!

Oxytocin, along with the related hormone vasopressin, is thought to be central in the bonding and attachment aspects of love.

In women, it helps in facilitating childbirth, lactation, and increases the tendency of mothers to perform bonding activities with their newborn child. It was also found to increase the tendency of fathers to bond with their children.

One study showed that heterosexual men in relationships who were given a shot of oxytocin tended to distance themselves from an attractive female more compared to men who were not given the oxytocin shot. The same study did not find any effect of oxytocin on single men. This suggests that the hormone might play an important role in enhancing fidelity in long-term relationships.

Oxytocin is released in both men and women during orgasm. Thus, it may also contribute to the feeling of attachment partners feel after sex.

But there might be a dark side to oxytocin.

After all, love is the most discriminatory of all emotions, so it should be a very big surprise when the results of several studies suggest that oxytocin might make people less tolerant and more suspicious of outsiders. Scientists think that oxytocin increases our positive feelings for

people we like, and intensify negative feelings for other people.

But love is not just about attachment or butterflies in the stomach. Love can be also about that intense feeling of attraction for another and the feeling of arousal derived from such an attraction. In other words, one aspect of love is lust. Two hormones that play a crucial part in this aspect of love are testosterone and estrogen, which are both released in men and women.

Then there’s the neurotransmitter dopamine.

Dopamine is thought to be responsible for that feeling of bliss during the honeymoon phase of a romantic relationship. It tends to get released along with a suite of other chemicals like norepinephrine and serotonin, which tend to mess up a person’s appetite and sleep cycle.

That’s why lovers who are suffering through the height of the honeymoon phase of love—the people we call lovesick—lose appetite and sleep.

This honeymoon phase, however, does not last forever because dopamine levels eventually go down 1 to 3 years into a relationship. After the honeymoon phase, it’s time for the oxytocin and vasopressin to keep the passion burning.

The word ‘love’ means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. In each of its meanings, it refers to one of the most complex emotions humans can ever feel. Understanding the chemical basis of those feelings, however, should only enhance our appreciation for the colorful, painful, wonderful parade that is the human condition.

Decierdo is resident astronomer and physicist for The Mind Museum.

They talk about social inequity and glamorized and idealized. In real life, however, employees of news organizations other ills while dealing with their own are just like everybody else. They use public realities, balancing practical concerns with constraints and many gray areas, and every transportation and get bogged down their principles and pushing themselves to do more despite their exhaustion. day is an opportunity to learn, but in the These are the people who have been end, everybody is aware of what he or she around for years and who will gladly stay is here for.

I am honored and for more despite the difficulties.

Finally, excitement. We look forward to As in any workplace, there are occasional humbled to be among the years ahead. Oh, we are not certain irritants and a bit of friction here and what will happen. No matter how much my colleagues. there. But there is none of the brutal we plan, or anticipate the things that may politics or vicious backstabbing that come, nobody can tell what will be next. characterize other places. Instead there We thrive in this uncertainty; in a way, this is appreciation of the contribution and is what makes the job so exhilarating. What commitment of others. There is inherent we are sure of, however, is our commitment love for what we do. The propensity to when these break down. to keep doing what we do, and improve make mistakes, yes, but also to correct They talk to and report about prominent just a little every day. people, top corporations, but they are them and learn something new every day. *** But let me pay tribute to the men and themselves simple folk—just another face There is humor—okay, sometimes awfully corny jokes. women that make this newspaper what in the crowd.

And yes, there is food.

They deal with text about and photos of it is.

I feel honored and humbled to be disaster-stricken communities while they Manila Standard is the bylines and the among my colleagues. I’ve been here themselves are vulnerable to disasters. names on the staff box that its readers see. nearly 11 years, but most of them have Despite this, they brave typhoons and fl ood But it is also those who are not named but been around even longer. The newer ones and haul their bodies to the offi ce anyway to no less deserve recognition. seem bent on staying put, too. It’s not the These are the people who show up for meet their deadlines. No excuses. easiest place to be in, but it’s a happy place They work on stories about health, work with smiles on their faces, even on where we thrive even as we feel we barely working still even as they themselves weekdays and holidays. They who do not survive, sometimes. feel just a little sick, or do not have the have qualms staying up late or pulling all wherewithal to pay their own family nighters just to get the job done. adellechua@gmail.com I n movies, media work is of ten member’s hospital bill.

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From A1

hegemony in the Pacific. It’s worth remembering that Japan didn’t choose to be under US security guarantees. The US made that arrangement after defeating Japan in World War II and forcing it to relinquish its capacity for offensive war on a permanent, constitutional basis.

To walk away from the table with Japan would mean inviting Japan to arm itself and assert a dominant position in Asia. It would also signal US weakness vis-à-vis China.

Now Trump will have to use the visit to reassure Japan about US security guarantees—in other words, to walk back his previous policies.

As for trade, Trump will have to explore some way to work out a bilateral deal, because his first week in office he trashed the Trans-Pacific Partnership that would have included Japan. Abe had expended significant political capital getting legislative agreement to join the TPP. Trump will be hoping to take advantage of the efforts Abe made on behalf of closer ties to the US. That would be a lot easier if Trump hadn’t cut off Abe at the knees with his TPP announcement.

The upshot is that Trump now has the chance to start pursuing a more tenable Asia policy. That would be good. And if it works, maybe he can start rethinking some of his domestic policies, too. I can think of at least one executive order that would benefit from being scrapped and redrafted from scratch. Bloomberg

FILLING...

From A1 you would like to know more about a particular subject, say, airplanes or unsolved mysteries or World War II. 4. Special projects: Let’s say you want to write your grandfather’s biography or help your aunt with her memoirs. To guide your efforts, read as many memoirs and biographies as you can. This will make it easier for you to select a particular format that will serve as a framework for putting in order the information you gather.

From there, you can be creative and innovate, because you have a good idea of what’s out there, what’s been done, what works, and doesn’t work.

I’m going into food writing, so I’ve stocked up on classics by MFK Fisher, Edouard de Pomiane, Elizabeth David, Ruth Reichl, Doreen Fernandez, and others, hoping to

learn by osmosis. There’s nothing like getting guidance from the best!

5. Reference materials: Do have dictionaries in English, Filipino, and other languages as you require; and a thesaurus. My references rack also includes books about my academic discipline, so that would be volumes on communication theory, qualitative research, and social sciences.

6. Special interest books: I decided I want to go beyond the elementary Spanish I learned in college, so I bought a ‘Spanish for beginners’ and books in Spanish that I plan to read when I have a larger vocabulary and have a better grasp of grammar—Como Agua Para Chocolate (Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate) and La Sombra del Viento (Zafon’s The Shadow of the Wind). I can go on the internet and listen to lessons for free, but I’m a visual learner and learn easier and faster when I read. This might be a

good approach for some of you.

7. Sentimental journeys and anything goes: Sometimes I just buy a book for no other reason than I liked something about it. I’ve bought books for their beautiful covers, or they’re a special edition of something I already own, or just having them in my bookshelf brings me comfort knowing they’re there (for me it’s the complete Sherlock Holmes canon). Also under this category go childhood books and favorite classics.

Ultimately, though, there is only one tried and true formula for collecting books—your personal interest and taste. Follow your heart, fill your bookshelf, and have a lovely read.

Dr. Ortuoste is a Californiabased writer. Follow her on Facebook: Jenny Ortuoste, Twitter: @jennyortuoste, Instagram: @ jensdecember

World IS EXECUTES 5 EGYPTIANS ACCUSED OF AIDING ARMY CAIRO—The Islamic State group in Egypt claims to have executed five men it accused of working for the army, which is battling the jihadists in the Sinai Peninsula.

In a series of photos published Friday on the secure messaging app Telegram, five men presented as army “elements” are seen lying face down on the ground before a militant shoots them in the back of their heads with an assault rifle, the SITE intelligence group said.

Jihadists have killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen since the military overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 unleashed a bloody crackdown on his supporters.

The crackdown decimated the Islamist movement and killed hundreds of his followers, and set off a jihadist insurgency that has killed hundreds of security personnel.

Most of the attacks have taken place in the Sinai Peninsula, which borders Israel and the Gaza Strip, but attacks have also been carried out in other areas including Cairo.

The Egyptian army announced on Friday that it had killed “500 terrorists” since it launched a wide-ranging security operation in the Sinai in September 2015. AFP

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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

17 DEAD IN STAMPEDE AT FOOTBALL STADIUM L

uanda, Angola—At least 17 football fans died in a stampede at a stadium in northern Angola, police said, adding that scores of other spectators were injured, many of them seriously.

Panic spread through the crowd at the match in the town of Uige between Santa Rita de Cassia and Recreativo de Libolo in Angola’s domestic league season.

“There was a blockage at the entrance to the January 4 stadium... this obstruction caused multiple fatalities – 17 deaths, and there are 56 injured in the hospital,” police spokesman Orlando Bernardo told AFP. He added that there were an

unknown number of children among the dead, and that hospitals were treating those injured.

Police said hundreds of fans had tried to enter the already packed stadium to see the match, causing a crush that pushed some people to the ground.

Many of the dead were trampled to death or suffocated.

“While the players were on the field, outside fans were trying to get into the stadium and a gate

probably gave way to the pressure of the crowd causing several people to fall who were literally trampled on by the crowd,” said the Recreativo de Libolo club in a statement on its website.

“There are already 17 confirmed dead and at least 59 wounded... (this was) a tragedy without precedent in the history of Angolan football.”

Some witnesses said many fans did not have tickets to the match, while other reports said that spectators inside the stadium were not aware of the stampede until it was over.

The Portuguese news agency Lusa reported that the president of the host team, Uige-based Santa Rita de Cassia, said the security forces were to blame

for not properly controlling the crowd.

“There was serious police error in letting the people so close to the field,” it quoted Pedro Nzolonzi as saying. “Many of them did not want to pay and those who had tickets could not get in. Then the confusion began,” he said, according to the news agency.

“It is all the fault of the police. Ït was easy to avoid. They just need to extend the safety cordon.”

The government had demanded an investigation into the cause of the disaster, the state-run Angop news agency reported.

Angola, ranked 148 in the FIFA world rankings, is a minor power in African football. AFP

CZECH ANTI-FAKE NEWS UNIT TARGETS RUSSIA PRAGUE—A Czech unit fighting fake news ahead of elections has scored an early success – debunking online footage that purported to show Muslim migrants attempting to rape a young girl.

The video, in fact, was of young Czechs involved in a drug turf war in Prague. The false claim of whoever posted it on a Canadian Facebook page has added to suspicion of foreign interference.

Established in January by the Czech interior ministry, the Centre Against Terrorism and Hybrid Threats is a direct attempt to combat fake news, with Russia facing particular scrutiny.

The centre’s launch followed a report by the BIS Czech intelligence agency that identified efforts to “weaken” the EU and NATO member state “through indirect infiltration of media and the internet.”

It cited “a massive distribution of propaganda and misinformation by the Russian state.”

Twenty experts at the Prague-based center have been tasked with evaluating the threat disinformation poses to national security and to propose ways of stopping its spread before October’s general election and a presidential election next January. AFP

POLISH PM INJURED IN CAR ACCIDENT WARSAW—Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo was hospitalized with minor injuries on Friday after a car struck her government vehicle in the southern city of Oswiecim, a government spokesman said.

“Prime Minister Beata Szydlo is in good condition. She will undergo additional routine tests in Warsaw,” government spokesman Rafal Bochenek said in a tweet on his official Twitter feed.

The 53-year-old prime minister was riding in a motorcade when the Fiat vehicle struck, forcing her car off the road where it crashed into a tree. Two security agents were also injured.

Bochenek told the TVN24 commercial news channel that Szydlo’s injuries were “mainly bumps and bruises caused by her seat belt.”

He declined to say how many days Szydlo is expected to spend in hospital.

Szydlo was being transferred by helicopter to a Warsaw hospital late Friday where she is expected to remain under observation.

State prosecutors have opened an investigation into the crash.

“We’re with you Beato and we’re sure that after a brief stay in hospital, you’ll be back with us again leading the government,” Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the powerful head of Szydlo’s rightwing Law and Justice (PiS) party, told supporters at a memorial meeting in Warsaw. AFP

FOOD IS LOVE. Sixteen-year-old Alaskan sea otter ‘Yutan’ is presented a heart-shaped block of ice at the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise amusement park in Yokohama, a suburb of Tokyo, on February 11, 2017. The event takes place once a day for park visitors until February 14 in celebration of Valentine’s Day. AFP

NO SAD ENDINGS FOR JAPAN’S VIRTUAL ROMANCE FANS TOKYO—Japanese book editor Miho worried about getting caught – her Takeshita is having an affair. But the boyfriend only exists on a smartrecently married 30-year-old is not phone.

WORSHIP. This picture taken on February 10 shows villagers carrying a dragon dance formation during the “beat the Buddha” celebration in Yuxi village. Villagers in China’s eastern Fujian province have a unique way of worshipping Buddha: they beat a rock statue of the diety to wish for a good new year and an abundant harvest. AFP

Takeshita is a fan of romance simulation games, a booming market in Japan that is winning the hearts of women looking for some unconventional loving.

“It’s very addictive,” Takeshita said.

“Even though the game characters aren’t real, you start to develop feelings towards them.”

That is the whole point, said Natsuko Asaki, a game producer at Cybird, which created the popular series Ikemen – a Japanese term for handsome guys.

“The story is most important, as well as the characters, and the twists and turns,” Asaki said.

The Ikemen app has been downloaded some 15 million times since its launch about five years ago, and the firm has also released an English version.

Mirroring the smartphone boom, female-targeted virtual romance games have ballooned into a market worth about 15 billion yen ($135 million) annually in Japan, according to the Tokyo-based Yano Research Institute.

Some 80 percent of fans, including a growing number of married women, play just before bed, a Cybird survey found.

The games do not rely on complicated algorithms, but instead offer multiple choice scenarios that let players escape into a world where they create their own love story with digital hunks.

Takeshita does not see anything strange about flirting with her smartphone sweeties.

In fact, she can engage with them whenever she likes – something reallife spouses do not always provide.

“The games also have sexual overtones but they’re expressed less crudely than in simulations made for boys,” Cybird’s Asaki said. “It’s an ideal love story – there are no female rivals and no sad endings.”

Romance games are one of the culprits behind a trend that has seen some young Japanese lose interest in finding a real partner, according to a study last year by the Meiji Yasuda Life Foundation of Health and Welfare.

“The relationship that does not happen in real life happens perfectly in the game – that can lead some people to give up looking for love, at least for a time,” said marriage specialist Aizawa.

While humans can easily love a virtual partner, it is still uncertain whether that feeling could ever be reciprocated, said Hiroshi Ishiguro, a robotics

B4

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2017 Cesar Barrioquinto, Editor

World

/ Joyce Pangco-Pañares, Issue Editor

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

ABE ENJOYS WARM TRUMP EMBRACE W

ASHINGTON— President Donald Trump welcomed Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe with a brotherly hug and warm words of admiration Friday, as he ditched previously hard-charging rhetoric toward Tokyo during a White House summit.

FIRE IN THE SKY. The Mount Sinabung volcano spews smoke and ash as seen from Karo district in North Sumatra province on February 11, 2017. Activity levels have increased in the past week, with Sinabung shooting hot ash clouds into the sky dozens of times, according to the local volcano monitoring agency. AFP

Trump praised his guest’s “strong hands,” the pair’s “very, very good chemistry” and rolled out a White House military honor guard in a remarkable public display of diplomatic affection.

“When I greeted him today at the car,” Trump said after an Oval Office meeting, “I shook hands, but I grabbed him and hugged him, because that’s the way we feel.”

The odd political couple had lunch at the White House before heading to Trump’s Mara-Lago estate in Florida for further talks and a round of golf on Saturday.

At Palm Beach airport, the pair were welcomed by a swarm of black SUVs, and a group of onlookers wearing red “Make America Great Again” hats.

The sporting gambit recalled the diplomatic exploits of Abe’s grandfather, prime minister Nobusuke Kishi, who once donned a polo shirt to play with avid golfer president Dwight Eisenhower.

Abe is in the United States on a similar charm offensive.

Then, the topic was post-war reconciliation.

This time, the Japanese leader is trying to build a personal rapport with the mercurial new US president and head off simmering disputes.

Ties have been strained by Trump’s willingness to question US defense commitments and his rejection of a trans-Pacific trade deal.

Plans under consideration in the White House propose a substantial hike of import tariffs that could have a serious impact on Japanese manufacturers.

Abe dodged questions about the trade deal, instead dispatching a slew of compliments.

“Donald, Mr President, you are an excellent businessman,” he said, praising Trump on everything from his meteoric political rise to his golf game.

“My scores in golf are not up to the level of Donald at all,” Abe said self-effacingly.

Abe’s efforts appeared to have paid off. After some tough anti-Japanese rhetoric on the campaign trail, Trump embraced long-standing defense agreements and “free, fair and reciprocal” trade.

“We’re committed to the security of Japan,” Trump said. “The bond between our two nations and the friendship between our two peoples runs very, very deep. This administration is committed to bringing those ties even closer.”

Trump also offered reassurances the US would come to Japan’s defense if China were to seize the disputed Senkaku islands, known as the Diaoyu in China.

In a joint statement, the pair said they “oppose any unilateral action that seeks to undermine Japan’s administration of these islands” – comments that are sure to rile Beijing. AFP

FRESH WHALE STRANDING ON NEW ZEALAND BEACH FAREWELL SPIT, New Zealand – Rescuers defied a shark threat to form a human chain in a New Zealand bay on Saturday in a bid to keep another 200 whales from becoming stranded a day after hundreds died in a mass beaching.

About 150 people waded out up to their necks at Farewell Spit in the northwest of the South Island to form the human wall as they also guided some 100 survivors from Friday’s beaching away from the shore.

Environmental group Project Jonah, which is assisting with the rescue mission, described the new arrivals as “a super pod” which “swam into the bay and within 20 meters of the human chain.”

“This pod joined up with the refloated whales of which almost 100 joined the larger pod,” the organization said in a statement.

Andrew Lamason, regional operations manager for the Department of Conservation old AFP the focus was on preventing the whales from reaching a beach already littered with more than 300 dead whales.

The pod was trying to access the area where 416 pilot whales were stranded overnight Thursday, with about 70 per cent already dead when they were found on Friday morning.

Lamason said they needed to have the survivors far away from the shore before the evening low tide. AFP

BEACHED. Volunteers pour water on pilot whales during a mass stranding at Farewell Spit on February 11, 2017. AFP

KIRIN TO BUY MANDALAY BREWERY

TOKYO—Japanese brewer Kirin will buy Mandalay Brewery of Myanmar for an estimated several hundred million yen (several million dollars) in its latest effort to strengthen its presence in the Asia-Oceania region, a newspaper said Saturday.

Kirin will create a local subsidiary to take over the country’s oldest brewery, based in the northern city of Mandalay, from the military-backed Myanmar Economic Holdings, the Nikkei business daily said.

The Myanmar Investment Commission is expected to approve the deal soon, it said.

With the planned purchase, Kirin, which bought local market leader Myanmar Brewery in 2015, will control 90 percent of the country’s beer market.

The Japanese company seeks an edge against foreign rivals such as the Netherlands’ Heineken and Denmark’s Carlsberg, in Myanmar, one of the few growing beer markets amid lackluster momentum in global consumption, the Nikkei said. AFP

TOURIST INJURED IN HK TRAIN ATTACK A TAIWAN tourist was among three people in critical condition Saturday after a rush hour arson attack on a Hong Kong subway train the previous night, officials said, with one man with a history of mental illness arrested for the crime.

A total of 18 people were injured in the incident, while police said they had seized suspected liquid accelerants from the scene.

Police have ruled out the possibility of a terrorist attack and said the man acted alone, with investigators looking into his mental state.

“We visited a female tourist from Taiwan, her condition is still considered critical and is in intensive care,” the city’s number two official Matthew Cheung told reporters. AFP

WAR SIMMERS IN UKRAINE 2 YEARS AFTER PEACE PACT KIEV, UKRAINE—Two years have passed since the signing of a deal aimed at ending the war in Ukraine but the bloody conflict has rumbled on – at the cost of another 5,000 lives.

The Minsk II accord saw Kremlin-backed rebels agree with Kiev and Moscow on a halt to the fighting and outlined a complex roadmap for securing peace.

It was hammered out by the presidents of Ukraine and Russia with the help of their French and German counterparts and signed on February 11 two years ago.

The deal was inked during a period of intense combat and rising fears of an open war between the two neighbours. Kiev was accusing the Kremlin of covertly sending in thousands of troops – putting huge pressure on Moscow’s ties with the West. AFP

C1

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2017

Ray S. Eñano, Editor / Roderick dela Cruz, Issue Editor business@thestandard.com.ph

MANABAT GROWS WITH PH ECONOMY

By Othel V. Campos

R

.G. MANABAT & Co., a member of international auditing giant KPMG, marks its tenth year of providing professional services in the fields of audit, tax and advisory in the Philippines.

From a company of 250 people when it started, KPMG RGM & Co. now has 1,000 dedicated employees housed in its own building—the KPMG Center in Makati City.

The past decade saw the Philippine economy emerge as a vibrant market with thriving industrial and services sectors, the same period when KPMG Manabat & Co. rose to the top of the business advisory sector.

Roberto Manabat, the man at the helm of R. G. Manabat & Co, guided the company through the decade, while facing many challenges. A graduate of the University of the East and Asian Institute of Management, he worked for SGV & Co. and Securities and Exchange Commission, before establishing RGM & Co. in 2007.

As he collects his thoughts from a decade of triumphs and adversities, Manabat underscores the importance of keeping up with the standards of the industry.

“We had to prove to our international partner, KPMG, that our governance processes met the highest standards.

This meant adopting new ways of implementing decision-making; ensuring the buy-in of partners, principals and staff; and communicating our philosophies, strategic directions to Turn to C2

Business

AUDITORS.

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From left: KPMG Manabat & Co. vice chairman and head of audit Sharon Dayoan, vice chairman and chief operating officer Emmanuel Bonoan, chairman and chief executive Roberto Manabat, chief finance officer Pacifico Castañeda and vice chairman and head of advisory Henry Antonio.

Business

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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2017 business@thestandard.com.ph

MANABAT...

From C1

everyone in the firm,” he says.

Such challenges continue to this year, when the local accounting and auditing sector faces new standards meant to instill transparency in the industry, in the face of global and economic developments.

Auditing firms, according to Manabat, are now required to review audit opinions and financial statements together with issues encountered during the auditing process and how these issues are addressed.

“This is a big step towards transparency. The government is pushing us to stick to the regulatory standards that further professionalize our ranks and prevent us from being embroiled in controversial and embarrassing situations,” he says.

“Not only clients books are subject to audit, we also face audit by the government as ordered by the Securities and Exchange Commission,” he says.

High-profile cases such as that of Enron in the US have affected the auditing industry. That led not only to the bankruptcy of Enron but also the dissolution of its auditing firm.

Manabat says cases like these affect the image of the industry in general, the reason why the SEC and the Philippine government are enforcing stricter regulations to increase the transparency of the profession.

Manabat, who has about 40 years of track record in the field of accountancy, started the company 10 years ago with his friend and co-worker Emmanuel Bonoan.

The firm’s next generation of leaders is a team of young and bright partners who have established new service lines.

To continue its growth story, the firm recently announced that 2017 is a transition year, with Sharon Dayoan, the company vice chairman and head of audit, assuming the chairmanship

by January 2018, Manabat who will become chairman emeritus. Bonoan is the vice chairman and chief operating officer while Henry Antonio is vice chairman and head of advisory.

Guided by the KPMG values of excellence, trust, and commitment to the firm’s clients and people, they assembled a dynamic team of young leaders to continually motivate the rest of the organization – providing audit and assurance services and advising clients across a diverse range of industries on multifaceted business and tax needs.

The past decade made an interesting journey for the growing band of resilient professionals as they have developed into one cohesive team, each day affirming their commitment to be relevant to the firm’s clients and the Philippine business community.

Manabat has been a prominent advisor to many corporate and government agencies on good governance principles and practices and is a sought-after resource person on matters pertaining to corporate governance, internal audit, financial reporting and risk advisory topics.

He has particular interest in the insurance industry, having been the practice leader for the sector.

His professional career is capped by his assumption of the chairmanship of the KPMG R.G. Manabat & Co., a member firm of KPMG International.

The company has recently released the 2016 consumer market report, accounting the big strides in the consumer durable good category and its contribution to the local economy.

The report cited the significant contribution of automobile and housing markets as two of the biggest contributors to the country’s economy, in general.

Interest rates have been instrumental to the growth of the consumer market due to lower interest rates ranging from 5 to 6 percent that allowed greater flexibility for borrowers to file for loans either for an auto loan or a housing loan.

However, pending regulations and policies, specifically on VAT and excise tax measures, might affect consumer appetite, albeit short-term impact at the onset, according to the study.

The report mentioned two ways that will dampen consumer appetite first is the slowing of economy due to less remittance from overseas Filipino workers.

The economy has always been shielded from world economic crises because of the fact that OFWs continue to contribute significantly to the domestic economy. The second is a change in the macroeconomic policies of the country that may result in the deterioration in investor confidence.

SILICON VALLEY EXECUTIVE CHANGES PH REMITTANCE

F

our years ago, an American information technology professional based in Silicon Valley packed his things and decided to fly to the Philippines where he did not know anybody.

Sensing a great opportunity, he built a startup financial technology company that would eventually redefine the local financial sector, including the remittance business.

“We started with a very simple vision, which is how to help more Filipinos connect directly to financial services,” Ron Hose, the 38-year-old founder and chief executive of Coins.ph, says in an interview in Ortigas Center.

Coins.ph, a mobile blockchain-enabled platform which uses the underlying technology infrastructure of Amazon Web Services, enables Filipinos to move or transfer money at the least cost and easiest way, according to Hose.

With the use of a smartphone, it enables customers to remit funds from anywhere and anytime in the world to the Philippines, receive remittances, pay bills, purchase and top up phone credit and pay for goods and services with a virtual debit card.

Hose says access to capital and financial services is a real equalizer. “If you are an OFW and you are sending money back home and you are paying like 6 or 8 percent in remittances fee, it is like working one month a year for free. It should not cost that much to move money from one place to another. There is no good reason for it, not in 2017. When you make it easier for people to move money, then they can access services,” he says.

Hose says remitting funds through Coins.ph cuts the fees substantially. “If you are to send P1,000, you will be charged half of that for remittance fee. So you have little control for the expenses and how the funds are being used. With our product, you can control, you can send small amounts, because we don’t have to use the traditional setup in banks. Even if you want to send P100, you just pay a percentage of that. For peer to peer transaction, it is free. It is when you withdraw here that you pay the withdrawal fee,” says Hose.

“Overall, remittances cost about 6 to 8 percent. With us, what we typically see is around 2 to 3 percent as average cost.

With the smaller transaction, it becomes more pronounced.

We don’t have the fixed fee component. We have a lot of partners like banks, financial institutions, convenience stores, retail outlets. For banks, we support cashout to 30 major banks in the Philippines,” he says.

He says Coins.ph also makes it much easier to deposit cash and settle bills. “If I want to send funds through a BDO account or I just want to pay my rent or pay someone, you have to run and deposit to their account. Don’t do that ever again. Just use Coins.ph. It is convenience. I pay my rent, car bill, Internet bill and condo fees through Coins. ph. I just remit funds to their accounts. If you want to send funds for cash pickup, you can send to any major Smart Padala Center. If you try to send money through door to door, you can send to GCash,” he says.

Coins.ph also has a partnership with Security Bank that allows customers to send funds to an ATM, and the recipient can go to the ATM and collect the funds even without using an ATM card. “We send them a code through SMS. They put in the 16-digit code and they can collect the funds. A lot of customers are already using this and it is 24/7,” says Hose.

Coins.ph has built a network of multiple partners across 17,000 locations in the country, including banks, pawnshops, department stores and convenience stores.

“What we really do well is making easy for people to move money, from one place to another, to make a payment, to send money from bank to bank, at the least cost and most convenient way,” says Hose, who was a founding partner at Innovation Endeavors and a co-founder TokBox, two Silicon Valley groups. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and a Master’s degree from Cornell University in New York.

Hose says from half a million customers in mid-2016, he expects “a few million customers” to use Coins.ph for financial transactions this year. Coins.ph facilitates millions of transactions worth billions of pesos each month.

His journey to the Philippines started four years ago, when he felt the need to build a company with a positive social impact. His research pointed him to Southeast Asia—the world’s fastest growing market. Among Southeast Asian countries, the Philippines caught his attention the most.

“I did a very systemic search. I was looking across Southeast Asia. I was looking market by market, investors, entrepreneurs, learning about every country and the things unique to it, and after doing that for a few months, it became very clear to me that the Philippines was the place I wanted to be in. I actually did not know anyone here. That was four years ago,” he says.

“Even though the economy here is growing very fast, at the same time people still lack access to basic services like healthcare, education, finance and commerce,” he says. “If you look at the Philippines, more people have Facebook accounts.”

Hose and his partners spent eight months studying the Philippine market, looking at different opportunities.

“It is a great place to start business in, because it is a big market, there is a lot of things you can solve with technology, and it is English speaking. It is a good hub to service products for other countries in the region. But for me, there was another aspect to it, which is personal.

Building a company is not like a two or three-year project.

It is five to 10 years which is a significant part of your life.

And I want to be somewhere that I actually like, where I personally enjoy living in. From day one, I really thought I blended in. Being here was a very important part of what we are doing. I don’t think I would ever think of building a business without committing to the country,” he says.

Hose toured around Metro Manila, including the slums of Tondo, and witnessed how helpless the poor people are. His market research of the Philippines highlighted one very important issue, which is the lack of access to financial services. “The thing that came back over and over is how difficult and expensive it is to access financial services. Even doing basic things like moving money around, like sending money to relatives to making payments, or paying your health or employees, it is very difficult. That’s where we centered our company. We saw a gap right in the market,” he says.

“In the Philippines, the official banking penetration is 30 percent. So more than 70 percent of the population does not have bank accounts at all. If you start deducting dormant accounts, it will probably fall below 10 to 15 percent. So that means 85 or 90 percent are not actively using bank accounts. We are just trying to bridge that gap.

We are not like a disruptor company. We are an enabler company. Our goal is it connect the other 90 percent,” says Hose.

Hose does not want to call Coins.ph as a disruptor.

“When we say disruptor, we think of a company that is trying to replace something. We are not trying to replace what is in the market. We are trying to make what is in the market work more efficiently. If a bank is only able to serve a million out of 100 million customers in a market, I want to figure out how to help them reach out to 99 million customers,” he says.

Hose says transferring money should not be hard and costly with today’s technology. That technology is cloud and mobile. “Being a fintech [financial technology] company, we use mobile very heavily. We use Cloud. We use blockchain to settle the transaction,” he says.

“We did a thing that is gonna change the financial industry and the thing that is enabling us is technology.

It is mobile and cloud, those are the things that empower us,” says Hose.

Hose says the customer base of Coins.ph was growing

faster than they anticipated, but Amazon Web Services enables the company to scale up immediately. “We get millions of requests on our servers everyday. It is very hard for us to anticipate growth. We thought December was going to be our strongest month. But January was even stronger than December. It was really hard to predict.

What allowed us to move fast is how our underlying technology and infrastructure is built. Every thing we do is actually built in Cloud. We have been using AWS pretty much from day one,” he says.

Coins.ph has a 50-person team, supported by AWS infrastructure. “We are a small team. We have a limited number of engineers and we want to dedicate all of our work to making a better product for our customers.

Maintaining infrastructure is secure. If we have to maintain all the certification and all the practices that Amazon has in its own data center in our own data center, that would require probably a team that is at least the same size of what we have right now just to do that,” he says.

Hose says with the help of AWS infrastructure, Coins.ph has gained the acceptance of the market and the regulator.

“We were the first one. Everything we did was running ahead. The first thing we realized is that even though there was no regulation, we acted as though we were regulated.

So we started implementing everything from Amla [AntiMoney Laundering Council] controls and KYC (know your customers). Subsequently, we applied for money transmitter license, which was the closest thing for us to be regulated. For me, this is about making sure our customers are protected and they can feel safe transacting with us,” he says.

Coins.ph acquired a remittance license from Bangko Sentral and registered with the Anti-Money Laundering Council of the Philippines last year. “We are regulated as a remittance agent. With the new regulation, they are saying that if you are doing this business, there are some things we need to follow, but at the same time, there are a lot of things we have been tackling over the last three years. So we came relatively prepared,” he says.

“Our acceptance and legitimacy is coming from our customers, primarily. Of course, it is very viable and important for us to be recognized by government and regulators. At the end of the day, the thing that is most important is the service we provide to our customers,” says Hose.

Hose says Coins.ph aims to have a few million customers this year, but the long-term goal is to enable every Filipino to have access to financial services. “Our goal remains the same when we started the company. We would be happy that by the end of it, basically every person has direct access to financial services,” he says.

He says the new regulation of Bangko Sentral covering virtual currencies is a recognition of the financial technology that shapes the industry. “We are very lucky because in the Philippines, we have a regulator [Bangko Sentral] that is very forward thinking. They take a lot of great care and caution with customer protection and ensuring the integrity of the system and protecting Filipinos from systemic risk. At the same time, they understand the value of technology and innovation and how we can actually help drive financial inclusion,” he says.

He says Coins.ph is reinvesting its revenue in research and technology to support the rapid growth of its customer base. “Operationally, we are generating positive revenue, but then we continue to invest heavily in R&D,” he says.

In summing up the contribution of Coins.ph to the Philippine financial industry, he says: “If you are making 100 payments today and you are sending runners to do it, you should not. You should come to us and we will help you do it more efficiently.” Roderick T. dela Cruz

TAKE A BREAK IN HECTIC MAKATI MANY offices in the Philippines are starting to allocate space to provide employees with a place where they can create, meet, recharge, de-stress, stretch or rest their eyes from the screen: the employee break room.

But not all offices have enough space to accommodate this welcome feature. Unless you work in the Makati CBD. The Alphaland City Club, along Ayala Avenue Extension, offers three floors that cater to all the business, lifestyle and fitness requirements of an active business executive.

The Club has a fully equipped athletic complex, including indoor tennis, basketball, squash and bad-

The City Club is the perfect place for business executives to enjoy the best of both worlds-work and play.

minton courts.

For relaxation, members can use the wellness spa with pool and jacuzzi areas. For important business talks and even confi dential negotiations outside the office,

private and full-service function rooms are available for meetings or events. For a daily serving of leisurely but affordable meals, members can choose one of eight specialty restaurants, while al-

lowing their children to enjoy the playground and game rooms.

“Nowhere else in Makati will anyone find all of these options in a single, exclusive club,” said City Club general manager Nic Belasco.

Sports

reuelvidal@yahoo.com SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2017

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GSIS Building, Financial Center, Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City 1308 GSIS ACQUIRED ASSETS FOR DISPOSITION

Star Hotshots guard Paul Lee (3) drives past Meralco Bolts defender Jonathan Uyloan. Star demolished Meralco, 120-73, during the team’s last game in the eliminations.

LEE POWERS HOTSHOTS TO CONTENTION

By Reuel Vidal

R

EPLACING the face of the Philippine Basketball Association and former Most Valuable Player James Yap in the Star Hotshots lineup is quite a burden to carry for Paul Lee. Just two years removed from their Grand Slam year the Hotshots completed a dour season as they limped home with just 12 wins last season. Desperate to improve the team traded for Lee as they shipped out Yap. And coming from an injury-plagued final season with the Rain Or Shine Elasto Painters it took a while for Lee to take a comfortable position in the star studded Star lineup.

Losing weight and looking fully recovered helped Lee who appears to be back to his lethal form. He is now able to drive to the hoop with authority and score clutch baskets to propel his team back to title contention.

The Hotshots have surprised all experts as they advanced to the semifinals of the Philippine Cup. As we went to press they actually hold a 1-0 edge over the reigning PBA Governors Cup champion Barangay Ginebra San Miguel.

En route to that series Lee fired 22 points, five from t h re e - p o i n t d i s tance, grabbed four rebounds and tallied the same number of assists as Star beat Phoenix, 114-83 to take Game 1 of their quarterfinal playoff.

The Star guard’s explosion came after his 15-point, fiveassists, two-rebound game when he led Star to a 120-73 demolition of Meralco

Paul Lee

during the team’s last game in the eliminations.

His exploits earned Lee his second Accel-PBA Press Corps Player of the Week award this conference. Lee edged Star teammate Allein Maliksi, Ginebra’s Scottie Thompson and Sol Mercado, San Miguel Beer’s June Mar Fajardo, Arwind Santos and RR Garcia as well as TNT’s Jayson Castro, Larry Fonacier and Mo Tautuaa for the award during the period of Jan. 31-Feb. 4.

The Hotshots were just as dominant in Game 2 of the quar ter finals as they once again trounced the Fuel Masters 91-71 to arrange the semis showdown against Ginebra.

Lee was deadly against the Fuel Masters. He drove into the heart of the Phoenix defense and scored points off floaters and layups.

Wh e n d e fe n d e r s double-teamed him

he whipped passes to open teammates for easy baskets.

Th at w i n s e nt them to the semifinals against Ginebra where Lee was even deadlier.

Leading by just two points, 76-74, with seconds left to play the Star offense was stymied by the Ginebra defense. With time running out and their play broken up Lee drove strong to the hoop, threw the ball against the glass and into the net to propel his team to victory, 78-74.

The play wasn’t even meant for him but with time running out Lee had no choice but to take charge and power his team to victory.

With the way things are going Lee may finally be able to live up to sky high expectations after the trade for Yap. He seems to be on his way but we’ll have to wait and see how his team fares, starting with the ongoing Philippine Cup.

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LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu LA PAZ HOMES II, Conchu FAIRVIEW PARK HOMES (CPMI), Fairview FAIRVIEW PARK HOMES (CPMI), Fairview GSIS METROHOMES, Pureza, Sta. Mesa GSIS METROHOMES, Pureza, Sta. Mesa GSIS METROHOMES, Pureza, Sta. Mesa GSIS METROHOMES, Pureza, Sta. Mesa GSIS METROHOMES, Pureza, Sta. Mesa GSIS METROHOMES, Pureza, Sta. Mesa GSIS METROHOMES, Pureza, Sta. Mesa GSIS METROHOMES, Pureza, Sta. Mesa GSIS METROHOMES, Pureza, Sta. Mesa GSIS METROHOMES, Pureza, Sta. Mesa GSIS METROHOMES, Pureza, Sta. Mesa GSIS METROHOMES, Pureza, Sta. Mesa GSIS METROHOMES, Pureza, Sta. Mesa GSIS METROHOMES, Pureza, Sta. Mesa GSIS METROHOMES, Pureza, Sta. Mesa GSIS METROHOMES, Pureza, Sta. Mesa GSIS METROHOMES, Pureza, Sta. Mesa GSIS METROHOMES, Pureza, Sta. Mesa GSIS METROHOMES, Pureza, Sta. Mesa GSIS METROHOMES, Pureza, Sta. Mesa GSIS METROHOMES, Pureza, Sta. Mesa GSIS METROHOMES, Pureza, Sta. Mesa GSIS METROHOMES, Pureza, Sta. Mesa GSIS METROHOMES, Pureza, Sta. Mesa GSIS METROHOMES, Pureza, Sta. Mesa GSIS METROHOMES, Pureza, Sta. Mesa GSIS METROHOMES, Pureza, Sta. Mesa GSIS METROHOMES, Pureza, Sta. Mesa GSIS METROHOMES, Pureza, Sta. 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Mesa MENZYLAND SUBD., Mojon MENZYLAND SUBD., Mojon MENZYLAND SUBD., Mojon MENZYLAND SUBD., Mojon MENZYLAND SUBD., Mojon MENZYLAND SUBD., Mojon MENZYLAND SUBD., Mojon MENZYLAND SUBD., Mojon MENZYLAND SUBD., Mojon MENZYLAND SUBD., Mojon ROCKA VILLAGE II, Tabang ROCKA VILLAGE II, Tabang SAN RAFAEL VILLAGE II, Cruz Na Daan SAN RAFAEL VILLAGE II, Cruz Na Daan SAN RAFAEL VILLAGE II, Cruz Na Daan SAN RAFAEL VILLAGE II, Cruz Na Daan SAN RAFAEL VILLAGE II, Cruz Na Daan SAN RAFAEL VILLAGE II, Cruz Na Daan SAN RAFAEL VILLAGE II, Cruz Na Daan SAN RAFAEL VILLAGE II, Cruz Na Daan SAN RAFAEL VILLAGE II, Cruz Na Daan SAN RAFAEL VILLAGE II, Cruz Na Daan SAN RAFAEL VILLAGE II, Cruz Na Daan

B008 L005 B008 L013 B008 L027 B008 L033 B008 L071 B008 L074 B008 L087 B008 L091 B009 L006 B009 L013 B010 L001 B010 L005 B010 L013 B010 L014 B011 L002 B011 L009 B012 L002 B012 L003 B012 L004 B012 L006 B012 L013 B013 L001 B013 L014 B018 L005 B019 L003 B019 L006 B019 L007 B020 L002 B020 L005 B020 L007 B020 L012 B020 L013 B021 L005 B021 L010 B021 L012 B022 L003 B022 L004A B022 L008 B022 L009 B022 L015 B023 L010 B025 L025 B030 L050 B032 L006 B032 L010 B032 L012 B033 L008 B033 L014 B034 L004 B034 L005 B035 L014 B038 L023 B040 L003 B040 L014 B041 L015 B042 L004 B042 L011 B042 L016 B043 L004 B043 L005 B043 L006 B043 L016 B043 L018 B044 L005 B044 L007 B044 L008 B045 L005 B045 L014 B046 L001 B046 L008 B046 L013 B047 L014 B047 L017 B065 L014 B065 L016 B065 L024 B065 L026 B065 L030 B065 L034 B065 L038 B070 L005 B070 L007 B070 L008 B070 L010 B001 L048 (Bldg001 Unit005) Cedar St B002 L011 (Bldg001 Unit011) Orchid St Bldg001 UnitGB-002 Ph 5A Bldg001 UnitGC-002 Bldg002 UnitGA-001 Bldg002 UnitGA-003 Bldg002 UnitGA-004 Bldg002 UnitGB-001 Bldg002 UnitGC-001 Bldg003 UnitGA-001 Bldg003 UnitGA-005 Bldg003 UnitGA-007 Bldg003 UnitGA-008 Bldg003 UnitGB-002 Bldg004 Unit4E-008 Bldg004 Unit4E-010 Bldg004 UnitGA-003 Bldg004 UnitGB-001 Ph 5A Bldg004 UnitGB-003 Ph 5A Bldg005 Unit2D-016 Bldg005 Unit3D-006 Bldg005 Unit3D-007 Bldg005 Unit3DE-016 Bldg005 UnitGA-004 Ph 5A Bldg005 UnitGA-005 Ph 5A Bldg005 UnitGA-008 Ph 5A Bldg005 UnitGB-001 Ph 5A Bldg005 UnitGB-002 Ph 5A Bldg005 UnitGC-001 Ph 5A Bldg006 Unit4D-014 Bldg006 Unit4E-002 Bldg006 UnitGA-001 Bldg006 UnitGA-004 Bldg006 UnitGA-005 Bldg006 UnitGA-008 Bldg006 UnitGB-001 Bldg006 UnitGB-002 Bldg006 UnitGC-001 Bldg006 UnitGC-002 Bldg007 UnitGA-004 Ph 5A Bldg007 UnitGA-008 Ph 5A Bldg007 UnitGB-001 Ph 5A Bldg007 UnitGB-002 Ph 5A Bldg007 UnitGC-001 Ph 5A Bldg007 UnitGC-002 Ph 5A Bldg008 UnitGB-001 Ph 5A Bldg008 UnitGB-002 Ph 5A Bldg023 UnitAE-008 Bldg023 UnitAE-014 Bldg023 UnitE-001 Bldg023 UnitE-002 Bldg024 UnitAE-006&AE-007 Bldg024 UnitE-001 Bldg024 UnitE-002 Bldg024 UnitE-003 Bldg025 UnitAE-007 Bldg025 UnitAE-012 Bldg026 UnitA-003 Bldg026 UnitA-004 Bldg026 UnitA-005 Bldg026 UnitAE-001 Bldg026 UnitAE-006 Bldg026 UnitAE-007 Bldg026 UnitE-001 Bldg026 UnitE-002 Bldg026 UnitE-003 Bldg026 UnitE-004 Bldg027 UnitA-009 Bldg027 UnitA-010 Bldg027 UnitAE-008 Bldg027 UnitBA-010 Bldg027 UnitE-001 Bldg027 UnitE-002 Bldg028 UnitA2 Bldg028 UnitA3 Bldg028 UnitA4 Bldg028 UnitA5 Bldg028 UnitA6 Bldg028 UnitAE-001 Bldg028 UnitAE7 Bldg028 UnitCA-012 Bldg028 UnitCE8 Bldg028 UnitD19 Bldg028 UnitD2 Bldg028 UnitD4 Bldg028 UnitE1 Bldg028 UnitE2 Bldg028 UnitE3 Bldg028 UnitE4 Bldg029 UnitA2 Bldg029 UnitA3 Bldg029 UnitA4 Bldg029 UnitA5 Bldg029 UnitAE1 Bldg029 UnitAE6 Bldg029 UnitB-013 Bldg029 UnitBA9 Bldg029 UnitC6 Bldg029 UnitCA9 Bldg029 UnitCE11 Bldg029 UnitDA19 Bldg029 UnitDE8 Bldg029 UnitE2 Bldg029 UnitE3 Bldg029 UnitE4 B001 L004 MENZYVILLE Maya St. B001 L005 MENZYVILLE Agila St. B001 L006 Ph 2B Alladin St. B001 L007 Ph 2B Alladin St. B001 L014 Toledo Extension Road Lot 8 B003 L006 Ph 2B Brilliance St. B003 L007 Ph 2B Brilliance St. B006 L009 Ph 2B Cardinal St. B007 L014 Ph 1 Fairfield St. B009 L011 Toledo Extension Road Lot 12 B015 L012 Ph 7 St Francis St. B016 L020 Ph 7 St. Paul St. B001 L015 Ph 2 J P Rizal B001 L017 Ph 2 J P Rizal B001 L018 Ph 2 J P Rizal B001 L020 Ph 2 J P Rizal B001 L022 Ph 2 J P Rizal B001 L023B Ph 1 M. Ponce St. B001 L025 Ph 2 B001 L050 Ph 1 B002 L009 Ph 3 P. Burgos B005 L001 Ph 3 B008 L011 Ph 2

(T-406020) T-77695 (T-431704) T-67388 (T-431706) T-67390 (T-431708) T-67392 (T-431739) T-67422 T-2510 (T-431700) T-67384 (T-424813) T-58099 (T-424814) T-58100 (T-393425) T-58231 (T-431724) T-67407 (T-424816) T-58102 (T-408234) T-73177 (T-393428) T-58234 T-4106 (T-410387) T-81488 (T-431734) T-67417 (T-408233) T-73176 (T-431697) T-67381 (T-408232) T-73175 (T-406023) T-77698 (T-441086) T-62553 (T-410392) T-81492 (T-389909) T-55653 (T-424821) T-58107 (T-406025) T-77700 (T-408224) T-73168 T-1636 (T-408218) T-73162 (T-431729) T-67412 (T-424823) T-58109 (T-406024) T-77699 (T-406026) T-77701 (T-408216) T-73160 (T-408217) T-73161 (T-389916) T-55660 (T-389917) T-55661 (T-424825) T-58111 (T-406027) T-77702 (T-431733) T-67416 (T-424811) T-58097 T-4098 T-1319 T-1328 T-1323 T-4097 T-1321 T-1679 T-820 T-1320 T-1725 T-1644 T-4107 T-18697 T-1322 T-1332 T-1352 T-1357 T-1683 T-1682 T-1681 T-1317 T-1637 T-1355 T-1331 T-1324 T-4102 T-817 T-4093 T-1339 T-1643 T-1680 T-1639 T-4140 T-4141 T-4119 T-4120 T-4122 T-4124 T-4126 T-4130 T-4132 T-4133 T-4135 123732 119505 22610 22612 22670 22672 22673 22678 22680 22742 22746 22748 22749 22751 22871 22873 22816 22822 22824 22909 22919 22920 22929 22885 22886 22889 22890 22891 22892 23019 23023 22954 22957 22958 22961 22962 22963 22964 22965 23029 23033 23034 23035 23036 23037 23106 23107 26879 26884 26945 26946 26954 27021 27022 27023 27031 27036 27103 27104 27105 27101 27106 27107 27171 27172 27173 27174 27183 27184 27182 27198 27249 27250 27254 27255 27256 27257 27258 27253 27259 27298 27294 27325 27308 27310 27327 27328 27329 27330 27332 27333 27334 27335 27331 27336 27355 27351 27368 27371 27373 27401 27390 27404 27405 27406 T-103706 T-103735 T-112280 T-109186 T-87831 T-109134 T-109141 T-109121 T-66494 T-87801 T-129954 T-124073 T-98464 T-98466 T-98467 T-98469 T-98471 T-95473 T-984741 T-954401 T-103439 T-103467 T-103449

Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Trece Marteres City (Capital) Quezon City Quezon City Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Manila Malolos Malolos Malolos Malolos Malolos Malolos Malolos Malolos Malolos Malolos Plaridel Plaridel San Rafael San Rafael San Rafael San Rafael San Rafael San Rafael San Rafael San Rafael San Rafael San Rafael San Rafael

TCT/CCT No.

Lot Area/ Floor Area (sqm)

Minimum Acceptable Offer / CMV ( ₱ )

Property Classification

Occupancy Status

Bidding Date

Place of Bidding

80.00 80.00 80.00 80.00 80.00 110.00 80.00 80.00 80.00 80.00 88.00 80.00 80.00 80.00 88.00 80.00 88.00 80.00 80.00 80.00 80.00 88.00 80.00 80.00 80.00 80.00 80.00 88.00 80.00 80.00 80.00 80.00 80.00 80.00 80.00 80.00 80.00 80.00 80.00 88.00 80.00 110.00 80.00 80.00 80.00 80.00 80.00 107.00 80.00 80.00 82.00 80.00 80.00 98.00 88.00 80.00 80.00 98.00 80.00 80.00 80.00 80.00 88.00 80.00 80.00 80.00 80.00 80.00 80.00 80.00 80.00 80.00 80.00 80.00 80.00 80.00 80.00 80.00 80.00 80.00 80.00 80.00 80.00 80.00 40.00 59.57 98.57 100.01 47.81 40.92 47.40 97.86 94.99 47.81 47.40 44.70 47.40 98.70 35.58 36.75 41.32 65.97 50.74 40.94 40.64 40.64 40.94 47.02 47.02 46.96 97.56 97.94 96.89 85.64 39.60 47.33 47.02 47.02 46.96 97.56 97.94 96.89 100.18 47.02 46.96 97.56 97.94 96.89 100.18 97.56 97.94 98.40 70.68 52.25 52.25 98.40 52.25 52.25 52.25 98.40 99.30 42.60 42.50 47.00 100.90 96.10 98.40 45.00 45.00 45.00 45.00 49.20 49.20 49.20 35.12 52.25 52.25 44.70 44.70 44.70 49.20 49.20 70.68 49.20 49.12 44.36 44.36 44.36 44.36 52.25 52.25 52.25 52.25 46.60 42.60 42.50 47.00 100.90 96.10 40.80 46.10 40.50 45.40 41.60 35.40 41.00 45.00 45.00 45.00 60.00 60.00 83.00 82.00 90.00 90.00 90.00 35.00 78.00 90.00 104.00 106.00 60.00 60.00 60.00 60.00 60.00 59.00 43.00 49.00 143.00 120.00 106.00

620,000.00 409,666.67 451,333.33 451,333.33 434,666.67 695,000.00 409,666.67 409,666.67 434,666.67 451,333.33 572,400.00 448,000.00 508,000.00 568,000.00 529,066.67 409,666.67 484,400.00 409,666.67 409,666.67 484,666.67 528,000.00 505,066.67 434,666.67 409,666.67 578,000.00 409,666.67 434,666.67 474,066.67 451,333.33 434,666.67 578,000.00 534,666.67 501,333.33 543,000.00 409,666.67 409,666.67 409,666.67 455,500.00 409,666.67 542,400.00 409,666.67 609,333.33 409,666.67 434,666.67 663,166.67 409,666.67 451,333.33 723,600.00 455,500.00 409,666.67 708,600.00 468,000.00 409,666.67 522,066.67 529,066.67 448,000.00 409,666.67 553,066.67 409,666.67 484,666.67 409,666.67 409,666.67 474,066.67 474,666.67 662,000.00 451,333.33 599,000.00 451,333.33 636,000.00 560,500.00 501,333.33 409,666.67 451,333.33 409,666.67 409,666.67 409,666.67 409,666.67 409,666.67 409,666.67 409,666.67 409,666.67 426,333.33 426,333.33 409,666.67 888,000.00 1,016,410.00 3,321,809.00 3,370,337.00 1,611,197.00 1,379,004.00 1,597,380.00 3,297,882.00 3,201,163.00 1,611,197.00 1,597,380.00 1,506,390.00 1,597,380.00 3,326,190.00 846,804.00 874,650.00 1,392,484.00 2,223,189.00 1,709,938.00 1,199,542.00 1,072,896.00 1,072,896.00 1,080,816.00 1,584,574.00 1,584,574.00 1,582,552.00 3,287,772.00 3,300,578.00 3,265,193.00 2,038,232.00 942,480.00 1,595,021.00 1,584,574.00 1,584,574.00 1,582,552.00 3,287,772.00 3,300,578.00 3,265,193.00 3,376,066.00 1,584,574.00 1,582,552.00 3,287,772.00 3,300,578.00 3,265,193.00 3,376,066.00 3,287,772.00 3,300,578.00 3,316,080.00 2,381,916.00 1,118,150.00 1,118,150.00 3,316,080.00 1,118,150.00 1,118,150.00 1,118,150.00 3,316,080.00 3,346,410.00 1,435,620.00 1,432,250.00 1,583,900.00 3,400,330.00 3,238,570.00 3,316,080.00 963,000.00 963,000.00 963,000.00 963,000.00 1,658,040.00 1,658,040.00 1,658,040.00 1,029,016.00 1,118,150.00 1,118,150.00 1,506,390.00 1,506,390.00 1,506,390.00 1,658,040.00 1,658,040.00 2,381,916.00 1,658,040.00 1,296,768.00 1,171,104.00 1,055,768.00 1,055,768.00 1,055,768.00 1,118,150.00 1,118,150.00 1,118,150.00 1,118,150.00 1,570,420.00 1,435,620.00 1,432,250.00 1,583,900.00 3,400,330.00 3,238,570.00 1,195,440.00 1,350,730.00 1,069,200.00 1,198,560.00 1,098,240.00 842,520.00 975,800.00 963,000.00 963,000.00 963,000.00 500,250.00 1,089,000.00 415,200.00 440,800.00 648,000.00 516,000.00 648,000.00 280,000.00 448,200.00 473,000.00 683,733.33 898,266.67 217,000.00 217,000.00 217,000.00 296,750.00 253,666.67 214,300.00 491,100.00 465,300.00 438,600.00 376,500.00 412,200.00

House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium Condominium House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot House & Lot

Occupied Unoccupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Unoccupied Occupied Occupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Unoccupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Unoccupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Occupied Occupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Occupied Occupied Unoccupied Occupied Occupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Occupied Occupied Unoccupied Occupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Unoccupied Occupied Unoccupied Occupied Unoccupied Occupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Occupied Occupied Unoccupied Occupied Unoccupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Unoccupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Unoccupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Occupied Occupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Occupied Occupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Occupied Occupied Unoccupied Occupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Occupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Occupied Unoccupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Unoccupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Occupied Unoccupied Unoccupied Occupied Unoccupied

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Level 8, Narra Room, GSIS Building, Financial Center, Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City

Level 8, Narra Room, GSIS Building, Financial Center, Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City

Level 8, Narra Room, GSIS Building, Financial Center, Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City

Level 8, Narra Room, GSIS Building, Financial Center, Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City

Level 8, Narra Room, GSIS Building, Financial Center, Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City

Level 8, Narra Room, GSIS Building, Financial Center, Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City

Level 8, Narra Room, GSIS Building, Financial Center, Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City

Level 8, Narra Room, GSIS Building, Financial Center, Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City

GENERAL GUIDELINES: 1.

Disposal of GSIS Investment Properties – Retail Units (IP-RUs) is through a competitive public bidding process. Acceptance of Purchase Offer shall start on the scheduled bidding date and time.

2.

Dropping of bid envelopes inside the designated bid box will be on the date of auction from 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Opening of Bids will immediately follow.

3.

Disposal of GSIS IP-RUs is on “As-Is Where-Is” basis. Interested bidders are enjoined to personally inspect the GSIS IP-RUs for sale. “As-Is Where-Is” is defined as the present physical condition of the retail unit that GSIS is selling and the buyer is buying, “with all attendant faults, if any,” whether or not immediately apparent and without any express or implied warranty. The buyer takes this condition at his or her own risk, without recourse against the GSIS as to their condition. This includes knowledge by the buyer of the presence of occupants in the retail-unit being purchased.

4.

Strictly, “One bidder, One specific property” only, which means that a bidder cannot submit two (2) or more bids for one property. A bidder may submit one bid each to as many properties as he wants to buy, as long as, he posts a bidder’s deposit for each property in an amount provided below. The bidder must present valid government IDs upon registration on the date of public bidding.

5.

Purchase offer may either be in Cash or through External Financing Institution.

6.

A downloadable bid form shall be properly accomplished with the following data: a. b. c. d. e. f.

Name and complete address of the bidder Exact address of property you are interested to bid Transfer Certificate of Title No. Amount of bid (in numbers and in words) 10 % Bidder’s Deposit equivalent to 10% of the total amount of Bid Offer Signature of the bidder/representative

7.

Bid proposal shall be written in words and in figures and shall not be lower than the Minimum Bid Price of the property published in the newspaper or posted in the GSIS website. Should there be a difference in the amount in words and in figures, the amount in words shall prevail.

8.

Bidders’ deposit equivalent to at least 10% of the Bid Offer shall be in the form of MANAGER’S CHECK payable to the Government Service Insurance System

9.

The following shall be inserted in the sealed bid envelope: a. properly accomplished Bid Form (form can be downloaded from www.gsis.gov.ph) b.

Manager’s Check payable to Government Service Insurance System representing deposit equivalent to at least 10% of the Bid Offer c. duly notarized Special Power of Attorney (SPA), if the bidder is an authorized representative d. pre-conditional approval from PBCOM, if applicable

10.

The following information shall be clearly written outside the sealed bid envelope (mailing envelope)

(Address of Property you want to bid) Block No. ______ Lot. No. ______ Phase No.____ Name of Subdivision Address of Subdivision TCT NO. _______ Mode: __________ Cash __________ thru External Financing Institution Name of Bidder: Mailing Address: 11.

Interested bidders planning to purchase the GSIS property through External Financing Institution (EFI) shall first secure certification from accredited banks stating that he/she is qualified to avail of a loan from External Financing Institution and insert inside the bid envelope.

12.

The existing tenant or occupant or his duly authorized representative through a valid Special Power of Attorney (SPA) has the right to match the offer of the declared highest bidder, provided: a. he/she is present during the bidding b. participated in actual bidding c. presently occupying the property subject of bidding supported by the following proofs of occupancy: c.1 c.2.

Barangay certificate that he/she is occupying or residing in the subject property Any valid government identification document with his/her address similar to the address of the property he/.she is bidding.

13.

If the occupant will exercise his/her right to match the offer of the declared highest bidder, he/she need not secure another bank pre-qualification corresponding to the matched offer. Instead, he/she shall pay the equity in cash as stated in Notice of Approval of Sale (NOAS). The equity shall be computed as the difference between the Letter of Guarantee from the bank and the offered bid amount.

14.

The declared highest/winning bidder shall submit within the day of the actual bidding, the following documents: a. duly accomplished Personal Profile/Company Profile/Corporate Profile, whichever is applicable (form can be downloaded from www.gsis.gov.ph); b. photocopies of two valid IDs (one should be a government-issued ID); c.

Articles of Incorporation/Partnership, By-Laws and current General Information Sheet, for corporation/partnership, if applicable; d.

Registration Certificate from SEC for corporation/partnership, DTI for sole proprietorship and CDA for cooperatives, or any proof of such registration, if applicable; e. current Mayor’s permit issued by the city or municipality where the principal place of business of the winning bidder is located, if applicable.

15.

A Notice of Approval of Sale (NOAS) shall be issued to the highest/winning bidder on the day of bidding. In case the bid is thru EFI, the equity shall be paid in cash within thirty (30) calendar days from receipt of Letter of Guarantee (LOG) by the GSIS. The equity is the amount corresponding to the difference between the LOG and the Offered Bid Amount.

16.

Upon issuance of the NOAS to the highest/winning bidder, the Bidder’s Deposit of the other non-winning bidder/s shall be returned immediately.

17.

Non-compliance with the terms and conditions stated in the NOAS shall result in the forfeiture of the bidder’s deposit.

18.

In case the highest/winning bidder fails to comply with the requirements within the specified time, the GSIS shall write the second highest bidder to confirm if he/she is still interested to acquire the property. If still interested, GSIS will require him/her to pay the nonrefundable deposit equivalent to ten percent (10%) of his/her previously submitted bid amount and will be issued NOAS.

19.

GSIS reserves the right to waive any formality or to reject any or all bids received. The list of properties available for sale may be updated without prior notice.

20.

For inquiries, you may call Real Property Accounts Management Department at telephone nos. 479-3536 or 976-4619.

(MS-FEB. 10,11 & 12, 2017)

C4

Sports

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2017 Riera U. Mallari, Editor / Reuel Vidal, Issue Editor / Randy Caluag, Issue Editor

sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

RAMIREZ TO PINOY ATHLETES:

LOVE FOR MOTHER LAND COMES FIRST

By Randy Caluag

I

T WAS the night for hundreds of national athletes to eat and be merry. After all, it was a fellowship for national athletes and coaches aptly dubbed Pagmamahal sa Inang Bayan-Sports for Change at the Ultra Arena in Pasig City.

The athletes were treated to sumptuous dinner, entertainment by fellow, talented athletes and celebrity bands. And most of all, they got reassurance of generous support from the government, financial or otherwise.

For Philippine Sports Commission under chairman Butch Ramirez, it was the most appropriate time to appeal to the country’s top athletes, who are gearing up for the Kuala Lumpur Southeast Asian Games in August, to put the country’s interest first.

His battle cry—“love for our motherland.”

“We are in need of heroes that will inspire the next generation. Change (in sports) is now. We have to have the right mindset of sacrificing for our country. So please, let’s do this for our country.”

Ramirez wants to instill in the minds of the athletes the word sacrifice, not for self-gratification, but for the country even as he recalled a visit to Cuba years ago and saw inscriptions spread all over the country that read “Love of country or death.”

Facing the athletes, Ramirez asked: “Mahirap bang mahalin ang ating bayan? Kaya bang mahalin ang ating bayan?”

After weighlifter Hidilyn Diaz ended two-decades of medal drought in the Olympics with her silver medal

Conrado Gicanal (second from left) and his team of fitness instructors

ROYAL MNL FITNESS: THE DREAM GYM

Bowling hall of famer Paeng Nepomuceno and chess grandmaster Eugene Torre personally attended the event and also gave their words of wisdom.

“Sama-sama tayong ipakita ang pagmamahal sa sports and inang bayan. Pag nauna yan, lahat ng pagod at sakripisyo ay hindi natin mararamdaman. Sapagkat ang una sa puso ay para sa bayan iyan,” said Torre.

All the sports disciplines were represented, including boxing and cycling whose coaches vowed to provide gold medals for the Philippine in their SEAG campaign.

Boxing’s deep pool

Coach Boy Velasco of the Association Boxing Alliances of the Philippines (ABAP) said they are poised to dominate three of the five weight categories of boxing.

The Philipines will have Olympian Rodgen Ladon and recent world youth silver medalist Carlo Paalam in the 49-kg. category; Ian Clark Bautista or Ryan Saludar in the 52-kgs and Mario Fernandez in the 56 kgs.

The other weight categories to be contested are in the 64 and 71 kgs.

We could have two more gold medal potentials had the Malaysia SEAG organizer not scratched the 60kg. division, where Olympia Charly Suarez is the top favorite, and the 74-kg

Two athletes from Philspada perform the wheel chair dance sport in an entertainment number that wowed those in attendance at the fellowship night for athletes and coaches. Peter Atencio

PSC chairman Butch Ramirez (extreme right) and with commissioners Celia Kiram, Arnold Agustin and Charles Maxey offering a toast. Peter Atencio

finish in Rio last year, the country again will once again embark on its quest for the elusive gold.

And the preparation the for Tokyo 2020 Olympics starts right with the Southeast Asian Games in Malaysia in August.

“It has to start somewhere, and we start as early as now. The Olympics is not a stand-alone competition. The SEA Games is our first stop in this journey,” said Ramirez.

To help boost the morale of the athletes, some former champion athletes like taekwondo jin Japoy Lizardo, billiards’ Rubilen Amit, nine-times SEAG judo gold medalist John Baylon and five-times SEAG gold medalist in rowing Benjie Tolentino gave inspirational messages through video feed.

class dominated by Eumir Marcial.

“Malalim ang pool natin saying lang nga na-cancelled ang dalawang weight categories na almost sure na ang gold natin. Wala kasing panlaban sa divisions na yun ang Malaysia kaya inalis nila,” said Velasco.

Velasco said the youngest member of the elite team is Paalam who will turn 19 in July, in time for the SEAG in August. Paalam was nurtured in the national juniors and youth teams by coach Ronald Chavez.

come back and don the Philippine uniforms in the biennial meet.

The Filipino-American Caluag brothers were the gold and silver finishers in the men’s BMX competition of the 2015 Myanmar SEA Games.

Sienna Fines, also a Fil-American, will also be back to defend her crown in the women’s BMX division.

“Sabi nila sakin, in my communication with them through email, na babalik sila to play for the Philippines kaya nag entry by num-

ber na kami na kasama sila,” said Philippine national coach Cezar Lobramonte.

Homegrown top bet Marella Salamat, who was the Individual Time Trial champion in Myamar, will be back to compete but this time in the criterium race.

“Na-scratch kasi ung ITT kay sa criterium na siya lalaro,” said Lobramonte where Salamat has a chance for at least a silver medal based on her timed performance.

Caluag brothers coming back

Cycling is also expected to deliver much-needed gilts as defending SEAG champions Danny and Christopher Caluag, have vowed to

Coaches and boxers of the Association of Boxing Alliances of the Philippines

LOTS of people dream of being in shape, having a well-toned body, and maintaining optimum health. That is why they exercise at the gym.

Now, while some sporadically rush to the fitness machines, especially after all the holiday bingeing, others have made it their lifestyle choice to work out all that accumulated calories.

This dream dovetails with the lifetime aspiration of Conrado Gicanal, or GK, as he is fondly called.

Having a passion for fitness, GK had always wanted to have his own gym even when he was still a kid. And so, after years of hurdling one challenge after the other, a journey from rags to riches then and now on his way up the wheel of fortune again, he finally decided to fulfill his dream by opening Royal MNL Fitness at the Level 3 of Fisher Mall on Quezon Avenue, Quezon City.

GK’s inclination towards health and fitness was also inspired by his former career as a real estate broker.

Royal MNL Fitness’ open concept allows clients to view everything that the gym has to offer even at first glance. After breezing through a warm and welcoming reception area, they may first notice the group of exercise machines on the left side of the 850 sqm meter space. There, trainers and coaches are on hand to assist clients with their regimens.

GK is very particular with how clients are treated by the coaches.

Having been a client in other gyms himself, he laments the lack of compassion for the paying customer.

“After you enroll, a coach is appointed to teach you. But after two days, the coach is already trying to sell you other programs. Because I did not buy any of what he was offering, he left me alone to my own devices.

It was a good thing I knew how to execute the correct fitness routine. But what about those who don’t?”

GK wants to change this mindset. So when he opened Royal MNL Fitness, he told his coaches: “I don’t want to have that same culture in this gym. I want all of you to have compassion for the clients. Whether they buy more programs or not, as long as they are enrolled, we should be there to guide and assist them with the proper way of doing their fitness routines.”

Aside from the exercise machines, health buffs have more to get excited about when they go around Royal MNL Fitness gym.

Those who take their cardio workout seriously can climb all the mountains they imagine while navigating the treadmill and elliptical machines situated by the big bay windows.

There is a boxing ring for practicing those Pacquiao moves.

PH JUDO GETS ‘TATAMI’ MATS FROM JAPAN

Officials of the Philippine Judo Federation and officials from Japan Embassy and Japan Judo Federation and Philippine Sports Commission commissioner Charles Maxey (center) during the turnover ceremony.

SECOND-HAND straw mats from Japan will soon be used by judo clubs affiliated with the Philippine Judo Federation (PJF) for their use in competitions and training young athletes.

The tatami mats, numbering around 142, were turned over last Wednesday by the Japanese embassy to officials of the PJF. PJF president Dave Carter said the various clubs under the PJF’s wings will surely benefit from the donation made by the All Japan Judo Federation.

“For the development of the sport, yan ang kailangan. Secondary lang ang uniform,” said Carter following a turnover ceremony at the judo gym-

nasium inside the Sports Medicine Association of the Philippines bldg. in Adriatico St., Malate, Manila.

The mats are important for judokas for safety reasons and are used best for throwing or grappling their opponents to the ground.

Martial arts mats help absorb shock and protect the thrown or grappled judoka from injuries when they hit the ground.The mats are also useful when athletes to maneuver the foot in various stances or positions.

Carter, who welcomed Japanese officials with PSC commissioner Charles Maxey and executive director Carlo Abarquez, said the central

gym of the PJF have enough mats that can be used by athletes who are training at the elite level.

The mats can be used by athletes at the grassroots level, and through the grassroots program of the PJF. Ken Nakamura, director for Japan Information and Cultural Center in the Embassy of Japan in Manila, said the donations are part of their government’s policy on sports, and in line with the country’s preparation for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

“We are focusing on cooperation in the field of sports. It’s under the program of Japan Sports for tomorrow,” added Nakamura. Peter Atencio

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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2017

Jimbo Gulle, Editor

Roger Garcia, Issue Editor

LGUs mslocalgov@gmail.com

ISO 9001:2015 FOR ILOCOS NORTE

FIRST LGU TO RECEIVE CERTIFICATION NATIONWIDE

B

Y OBSERVING the international standards of transparency, predictability, accountability, the Provincial Government of Ilocos Norte was granted certification by the International Organization for Standardization recently.

The ISO certification (9001:2015) gave the local government the distinction of being the first province nationwide to receive the global standard accreditation.

“I’d like to congratulate our provincial employees, led by Treasurer Josephine Calahate… Tayo ang kauna-unahang government agency sa buong Pilipinas na nakakamit nito,” Gov. Imee Marcos mentioned as PGIN started its annual “Open Capitol” held early this week.

“And I am certain that the endless pursuit of excellence by Ilocanos everywhere will persist, as we continue to produce heroes, pioneers, and genuine game-changers in all aspects of accomplishment. Marcos added in her speech.

In 2013, Ilocos Norte had also been the first province nationwide to receive ISO 9001:2008 certification. The accreditation was granted just in time, as the province celebrated its 199th foundation anniversary last Feb. 2.

ISO is a non-governmental organization composed of experts in products, services, and systems who create standards

Local Gov’t Units

of management to ensure quality, safety, and efficiency.

Compared to earlier versions of ISO accreditation (2000 and 2008), which focused on managing processes, the 2015 version “is less prescriptive, focusing instead on performance,” overall guiding organizations or units to be more efficient and improve customer satisfaction.

Provincial Treasurer and ISO Facilitator Mrs. Josephine Calajate shared, “If not for Governor Imee Marcos’ handson leadership, her vision, and her achievements, we never would have been inspired to do all of these things,” adding that it took collective effort from every Capitol department to undergo and pass the accreditation process even amidst other PGIN activities.

A major difference was also the focus on risk-based thinking or risk management, which required each Capitol department to strategize office procedures based on weaknesses and risk of failure in order to identify opportunities for improvement. “

LGU-DRIVEN ‘TYPE NG BAYAN‘ BLOOD TYPING LAUNCHED IT’S a fact that not all Filipinos know their blood types which is very important in addressing medical issues like blood donation and transfusion as it can spell the difference between health and sickness, even life and death.

For the past years, an alarming critical shortage of blood has been observed nationwide across blood reserve units due to the rising cases of dengue.

The newly formed DU30 Cabinet Spouses Association, in its mission to assist the marginalized sector of the society comes up with its second project called ‘TYPE NG BAYAN (TNB)’.

TNB is a free blood typing program for every Filipino which will provide assurance and peace of mind that in any eventuality of health problems, someone outside the family circle will be able to share that much-needed blood.

Under the Office of the President, with the support of the Department of Health and the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the lead group (Cabinet Spouses Association) will turn over the project to the Metro Manila Mayor’s Spouses Foundation.

The LGUs under their respective mayors will deliver the testing kits to their different barangays for implementation.

SEARCA SAYS JAPAN OPENS SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM

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By Brenda Jocson

FLY FREE. ‘Sarangani Pride,’ as this Philippine eagle was named by Senator Manny Pacquiao,

flies into its natural habitat in Mount Busa, Sarangani province. It was found dehydrated and malnourished in the upland village of Batian on Jan. 2. Municipal government staff brought it to the Philippine Eagle Center in Davao City to be nourished back to health. (See story below)

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna—-The Philippine government-hosted Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture announced recently that the scholarship tenable at Tokyo University of Agriculture (NODAI) in Japan is now open.

SEARCA, scholarship secretariat, said researchers employed at the University of the Philippines Los Baños can now apply for the Dissertation Doctorate Program for Agriculture and Natural Resources.

The scholarship is also open to researchers working fulltime at the Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) in Malaysia, Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) and Institut Pertanian Bogor (IPB) in Indonesia, and Kasetsart University (KU) in Thailand.

All four universities including UPLB are founding members of the Southeast Asian University Consortium for Graduate Education in Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC) forging the dissertation doctorate scholarship with Tokyo NODAI.

EAGLE FREED IN SARANGANI’S 'LAST FRONTIER'

LAKE HIGHWAY. Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar (center), DPWH Assistant Secretary Eugenio Pipo, and Undersecretaries Romeo Momo and Karen Jimeno (from left) inspect plans for the newly opened Laguna Lake Highway Phase 1 (formerly C-6 Dike Road) in Taguig City during its opening on Thursday. The 10.7-kilometer road will link the provinces of Bulacan, Rizal, and Cavite and traverses Taguig and Taytay in Rizal. Ey Acasio

A REHABILITATED juvenile Philippine Eagle was recently released to its habitat less than a month after being found in Mt. Busa, a key biodiversity area in Maitum town in Sarangani.

The eaglet, named Sarangani Pride by Senator Manny Pacquiao, was found dehydrated and malnourished in the upland village of Batian on Jan. 2 and was brought by the municipal government staff to the Philippine Eagle Center in Davao City.

The release team is composed of Philippine Eagle Foundation director for conservation Dr. Jayson Ibanez, PEC executive director Dennis Salvador, Maitum OIC–Menro Nanette Nacional, CENRO-Kiamba Jhing Guilao, DENR Region 12 representatives, and

Sarangani Information Office.

Salvador said the eagle was released on the basis of its health and physical conditions. During its rehabilitation, an X-Ray result showed an embedded pellet in its left groin and had to be nurtured into prime condition.

A team of biologists will be monitoring the bird’s condition for 10 days.

“Our staff will be monitoring this eagle post-release via satellite and radio transmitter. We want to make sure that this eaglet will be accepted back by its parents and fed until it fully fledges,” Salvador said.

According to Sarangani Environmental Conservation and Protection Center executive director Emma Nebran, the forest

where the eaglet was released is considered the last frontier of the province.

“Mt. Busa is the remaining forest we have here in Sarangani, and we must protect, conserve and preserve the biodiversity that we have here,” she revealed.

She added that the Provincial Government, headed by Gov. Steve Solon, supports efforts in protecting Mt. Busa and has allotted funds to support conservation initiatives in the area.

The 114,000-hectare Mt. Busa, which covers the towns of Maasim, Kiamba, and Maitum, is threatened by land conversion (to farmland), kaingin (slash-and-burn), wildlife hunting, illegal logging and mining.

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TODAY

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

LANAO DEL SUR'S TOURISM FLOURISHES

By Lance Baconguis CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—Mention the province of Lanao del Sur and all you will hear from people are negative comments from people who actually never even visited the province.

True, crime rate and violence exist, but so does in highly urbanized areas. Despite all of these, in 2016 the province was visited by 69,606 tourists who spent P1.2 billion, making the province the most visited province in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

In a report filed by tourism official from the Department of TourismARMM, Lanao del Sur is the number one tourism destination in ARMM’s five provinces.

Aside from Lanao del Sur, ARMM is also composed of the provinces of Maguindanao, Basilan, Sulu and TawiTawi.

According to ARMM Tourism Secretary Ayesha Mangudadatu-Dilangalen, ARMM had an influx of 212,649 tourists in 2016 with roughly P3.7-billion tourism-related expenditures.

“Lanao del Sur had an increase of 14-percent visitors compared to 2015 with 61,058 tourists,” MangudadatuDilangalen said.

Nouraldin Ahmad Tamano, provincial tourism officer, said life in the province revolves around Lake Lanao, which is also the source of Mindanao’s 30 percent power supply through the Agus hydroelectric power plants.

The people living in Lanao del Sur are called the Maranaos, “people of the lake,” among the most devout of Muslim tribes as well as the most artistic.

Lake Lanao is in Lanao del Sur, it is the largest lake in Mindanao, second in the Philippines and one of the 15 ancient lakes of the world.

The life of the Maranaos centers on Lake Lanao, the second largest and deepest in the Philippines and one of the most breathtakingly beautiful.

The city’s Aga Khan Museum, located within Mindanao State University, is a repository of Maranao and other Moro artifacts. It boasts a huge collection of indigenous art and cultural materials, ethnic music, the native tools and weapons used by the Muslims, and Muslim houses of different artistic designs.

LGUs

Manila

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LEYTE RIDGE-TO-REEF RURAL PROGRAM PUSHED

HE Leyte town Inopacan that’s now being aided in planting of jackfruit, dipterocarps, and ‘tilapia’ raising may become a national model for being small but is “food secure” owing to a “ridge to reef” ecosystem-based rural development.

The socio-economic development at Inopacan, Leyte is being approached in a different light by the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture. Inopacan is a third class municipality with a mere 20,000 population.

Instead of identifying development sites based on political classification, a SEARCA project is developing Inopacan from farm areas to forests and water bodies.

“The project will focus more on the agro-ecological systems of a potential project site. It will be delineated based on pre-determined

VIZCAYA ELDERLY SECURE BENEFITS FROM PROV'L GOVT

By Ben Moses Ebreo LINGAYEN, Pangasinan—The elderly may want to spend their remaining 25 years in this province so that they can be covered with the provincial government’s Centenarian Ordinance’s benefits.

Why not? There were already more than 43 super senior citizens who were awarded with benefits under the ordinance.

“Even with the implementation of the national government’s Centenarian Act, we will still implement our own. In fact, we are the first to implement it ,” said Gov. Carlos Padilla.

It all started in 2014 when Padilla’s wife Ruth sat as the governor pushing her passion for the welfare of the elderlies under the PRAYERS AND FAITH acronym for her development programs.

Padilla pioneered the implementation of the Ordinance Number 089 s. 2014 or Centenarian Ordinance Cagayan Valley if not the entire country after it was approved by the provincial board through the sponsorship of then board member Donior Tidang, an elder of the Kalanguya tribe in Sta. Fe town .

“We owe this significant ordinance from the Sangguniang Panlalawigan because they truly showed support and compassion to our centenarians,” Padilla said.

Since then, the provincial government has awarded P100,000 each to the more than 43 centenarians who passed the validation procedures.

The recipients are also entitled to free medical accommodation and medicines from the provincial government–managed hospitals in Nueva Vizcaya.

“Our elderlies deserve this assistance for they serve as our inspiration and model for longevity, good healthy lifestyle and proper nutrition” Padilla added.

The Office of the Senior Citizens Association Nueva Vizcaya chapter also serves as strong and active partner of the provincial government in the implementation of the Centenarian Ordinance.

They provide counselling and other services to address feuds and misunderstanding among the family members of recipient centenarians.

ecosystem using the ridge-to-reef approach or landscape continuum.”

This ecosystem-based concept follows SEARCA’s model called “Inclusive and Sustainable Agricultural and Rural Development “ or ISARD. ISARD aims that projects in poverty-stricken areas should enable the poorest of the poor get out of poverty, according to SEARCA Director Dr. Gil C. Saguiguit Jr. At the same time, these communities should contribute to conserving the environment.

The ISARD project in Leyte is in partnership with the Visayas State University, Visayas Consortium for

Agriculture and Aquatic Resources Program (ViCAARP), and Inopacan’s local government unit.

The “ridge to reef” model raises success potential of a poverty alleviation project as communities may be easily tapped for partnerships.

Besides, use of all agricultural, rainforest, and fishery resources will be maximized with the proximity with each other of factors of production (labor and raw materials, machines, land, and management).

Demonstration farms have just been put up in the last quarter of 2016 at Inopacan. These are a vegetable farm, a tilapia fishpond, and two jackfruit farms. The vegetable plot of 1,000 square meters was planted to okra, alukbati, and eggplant.

A technology on low-cost protective cover was applied as developed in an Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research-funded project in order to protect the

plants from continuous rain which is prevalent in the areas.

Ridge to reef

Under the ridge to reef concept, LGU-partners are tapped when these are around a “watershed or micro watershed, lake ecosystem including its tributaries.” The concept also determines choice of beneficiaries based on landscape ecologies of upland, lowland, coastal and marine ecosystems including ecotones.

SEARCA’s ISARD projects get small grants for technical assistance; institutional development and capacity building; knowledge management; and linkaging and networking support.

“Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping and Experts Systems developed by ViCAARP will also be deployed to support the project and growers in their decision-making processes.”

PINEAPPLE TOWN. Workers unload newly harvested pineapples at a stall in the public market of Calauan, Laguna, a town famous for its sweet pineapples in the southern Tagalog region. Ed Usapdin

Republic of the Philippines Office of the President

Republic of the Philippines Office of the President

PDEA Bldg., NIA Northside Road, National Government Center, Barangay Pinyahan Quezon City 1100, Philippines www.pdea.gov.ph

PDEA Bldg., NIA Northside Road, National Government Center, Barangay Pinyahan Quezon City 1100, Philippines www.pdea.gov.ph

PHILIPPINE DRUG ENFORCEMENT AGENCY BIDS AND AWARDS COMMITTEE

PHILIPPINE DRUG ENFORCEMENT AGENCY BIDS AND AWARDS COMMITTEE

INVITATION TO BID PROCUREMENT OF MEDICAL AND HEALTH INSURANCE FOR PDEA EMPLOYEES Bid Ref. No. 2017-26 1. The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), thru its Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), intends to apply the sum of TWENTY SEVEN MILLION ONE HUNDRED TWENTY THOUSAND PESOS (P27,120,000.00) through General Appropriations Act (GAA) for CY 2017 being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) to payments under the contract for the PROCUREMENT OF MEDICAL AND HEALTH INSURANCE FOR PDEA EMPLOYEES. Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening.

2. The PDEA - BAC now invites bids for the PROCUREMENT OF MEDICAL AND HEALTH INSURANCE FOR PDEA EMPLOYEES. Delivery of the goods is 365 calendar days upon receipt of Notice to Proceed. Bidders should have completed, within three (3) years from the date of submission and receipt of bids, a contract similar to the Project.

The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders.

3. Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using a nondiscretionary “pass/fail” criterion as specified in the 2016 Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act (RA) 9184, otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Act.” Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least sixty percent (60%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines, and to citizens or organizations of a country the laws or regulations of which grant similar rights or privileges to Filipino citizens, pursuant to RA 5183.

4. Interested bidders may obtain further information from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below during office hours (8:00 am to 5:00pm).

5. A complete set of Bidding Documents may be acquired by interested Bidders on February 7, 2017 from the address given below and upon payment of the applicable fee for the Bidding Documents, pursuant to the latest Guidelines issued by the GPPB, in the amount of twentyfive thousand pesos (PhP25,000.00).

The Invitation to Bid and Checklist of Requirements may be downloaded from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) and PDEA Website at www.pdea.gov.ph, provided that Bidders shall pay the applicable nonrefundable fee for the Bidding Documents not later than the submission of their bids.

6. The PDEA-BAC will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on February 15, 2017, 3:00 p.m. at PDEA Main Conference Room, NIA Northside Road, National Government Center, Quezon City 1100 which shall be open to prospective bidders.

7. Bids must be duly received by the BAC Secretariat at the address below on or before February 27, 2017, 1:00 p.m. All Bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in ITB Clause 18.

Bid opening shall be on February 27, 2017, 3:00 p.m. at PDEA Main Conference Room, NIA Northside Road, National Government Center, Pinyahan, Quezon City 1100. Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the address below. Late bids shall not be accepted.

8. Interested bidders may obtain further information from the BAC Secretariat c/oMs. Aroceli E Sonido or Mr. Arvin E Sadullo at the PDEA Compound, NIA Northside Road, National Government Center, Quezon City from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM only, Mondays to Fridays starting February 7, 2017 at Tel No. (632)920-8082.However, any queries relative to the contents of the bid documents and the project requirements can only be made by bidders who purchased the bid documents not later than Ten (10) days prior to the Submission and Opening of Bids.

9. PDEA reserves the right to reject any and all bids, declare a failure of bidding, or not award the contract at any time prior to contract award in accordance with Section 41 of RA 9184 and its IRR, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

10. For further information, please refer to: Ms. Aroceli E Sonido or Mr. Arvin E Sadullo PDEA-Logistics Management Service PDEA Compound, NIA Northside Road, National Government Center, Quezon City Tel No. (632)920-8082 (Sgd) JESUS A FAJARDO, MMOAS Deputy Director General for Administration Chairman, Bids and Awards Committee (MS-FEB. 12, 2017)

INVITATION TO BID

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SUPPLY, DELIVERY, AND TESTING OF 337 UNITS SHORT FIREARMS FOR PDEA Bid Ref. No. 2017-09 The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), thru its Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), intends to apply the sum of SIXTEEN MILLION EIGHT HUNDRED THIRTY THOUSAND PESOS (P16,830,000.00) through General Appropriations Act (GAA) for CY 2017 being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) to paymentsunder the contractfor the SUPPLY, DELIVERY, AND TESTING OF 337 UNITS SHORT FIREARMS FOR PDEA. Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening.

The PDEA - BAC now invites bids for the SUPPLY, DELIVERY, AND TESTING OF 337 UNITS SHORT FIREARMS FOR PDEA. Delivery of the goods is 180 calendar days upon receipt of Notice to Proceed. Bidders should have completed, within three (3) years from the date of submission and receipt of bids, a contract similar to the Project.

The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders.

Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using a nondiscretionary “pass/fail” criterion as specified in the 2016 Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act (RA) 9184, otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Act.” (i) Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least sixty percent (60%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines, and to citizens or organizations of a country the laws or regulations of which grant similar rights or privileges to Filipino citizens, pursuant to RA 5183.

Interested bidders may obtain further information from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below during office hours (8:00 am to 5:00pm).

A complete set of Bidding Documents may be acquired by interested Bidders on February 3, 2017 from the address given below and upon payment of the applicable fee for the Bidding Documents, pursuant to the latest Guidelines issued by the GPPB, in the amount of twentyfive thousand pesos (PhP25,000.00).

The Invitation to Bid and Checklist of Requirements may be downloaded from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) and PDEA Website at www.pdea.gov.ph, provided that Bidders shall pay the applicable nonrefundable fee for the Bidding Documents not later than the submission of their bids.

The PDEA-BAC will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on February 10, 2017, 1:00 p.m. at PDEA Main Conference Room, NIA Northside Road, National Government Center, Quezon City 1100 which shall be open to prospective bidders.

Bids must be duly received by the BAC Secretariat at the address below on or before February 22, 2017, 1:00 p.m. All Bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in ITB Clause 18.

Bid opening shall be on February 22, 2017, 1:00 p.m. at PDEA Main Conference Room, NIA Northside Road, National Government Center, Pinyahan, Quezon City 1100. Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the address below. Late bids shall not be accepted.

Interested bidders may obtain further information from the BAC Secretariat c/oMs. Aroceli E Sonido or Mr Arvin E Sadullo at the PDEA Compound, NIA Northside Road, National Government Center, Quezon City from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PMonly, Mondays to Fridays starting February 3, 2017 at Tel No. (632)920-8082.However, any queries relative to the contents of the bid documents and the project requirements can only be made by bidders who purchased the bid documents not later than Ten (10) days prior to the Submission and Opening of Bids.

PDEA reserves the right to reject any and all bids, declare a failure of bidding, or not award the contract at any time prior to contract award in accordance with Section 41 of RA 9184 and its IRR, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

For further information, please refer to: Ms. Aroceli E Sonido or Mr. Arvin E Sadullo PDEA-Logistics Management Service PDEA Compound, NIA Northside Road, National Government Center, Quezon City Tel No. (632)920-8082 (Sgd) JESUS A FAJARDO, MMOAS Deputy Director General for Administration Chairman, Bids and Awards Committee (MS-FEB. 12, 2017)

Gadgets & Games

A+ MOBILE EXPERIENCE WITH A6600 PLUS

The feature-packed Lenovo A6600 Plus delivers amazing performance and awesome pictures, at an affordable price point.

L

ENOVO announced recently a new addition to the A series, the Lenovo A6600 Plus.

Ideal for consumers looking for an uncompromising A+ mobile experience, this featurepacked smartphone delivers amazing performance and awesome pictures, at an affordable price point. It is a multimedia powerhouse that delivers entertainment and multitasking on-the-go.

Take your 4G mobile experience to a whole new level with the Lenovo A6600 Plus. Its 64-bit MediaTek 6735p quad-core 1.0GHz processor and 2GB RAM surely delivers amazing performance in its class. With the latest Android OS

—Android 6.0 Marshmallow OS—right out of the box, you can enjoy fluid switching between apps and save battery power.

Experience HD viewing with the phone’s 5-inch display with 800:1 contrast ratio. You can catch the latest movies or YouTube videos in vivid, true-to-life colors.

What about taking a snapshot of that wonderful sunset, dinner with friends or picnic with the family? Capture life’s best moments with the A6600 Plus’s 8MP autofocus rear camera, complete with a flash. You’re sure to take awesome photos with the phone’s automatic face detection, automatic scene detection and zero shutter delay.

Enjoy all your favorite music, movies and games wherever you go with the A6600 Plus’s expandable memory and 16GB internal storage. The unit’s 2300mAh battery ensures users

can maximize their entertainment archives for much longer!

“The Lenovo A6600 Plus delivers excellent performance at a very competitive price point.

Its fast processor, fast LTE connectivity, stylish big screen and brilliant camera features offer a flawless A+ user experience,” said Dino Romano, country manager at Lenovo Mobile Business Group Philippines.

The A6600 Plus comes in matte black and matte white versions. It retails at Lenovo stores and authorized sellers nationwide for only P5,999. Buyers can also enjoy financing options such as six months zero interest via credit cards or low monthly payments via Flexi Finance through selected dealers. Consumers may also avail of it for free with the Globe MyLifestyle Plan 599.

BOOST FUN, FOCUS WITH MOTO G FAMILY LIFE in the fast lane entails juggling multiple activities at once. Today, millennials need to balance work with a bustling social life full of parties, travel engagements, social media networking and hobbies. Oftentimes, they wear many hats: They are photographers, party planners, gamers and jetsetters.

Moto empowers millennials in accomplishing all their myriad goals, plans and activities. The trusty and stylish Moto G family, comprising the camera-phone -made -better Moto G4 Plus, the all-day highperforming Moto G Turbo and the fun-yet-affordable Moto G4 Play, complements the ever-busy life of the young generation.

Millennials can finally elevate their work and play experiences to a whole new level with Moto’s unique smart technology, designed to enhance digital experiences while embracing the passions of life.

Moto G4 Plus: A smarter way to take pictures

Those blurry photos from last night’s party will finally be a thing of the past.

Packed with an impressive 16MP camera—Moto’s best-in-class offering— and intelligent features for taking stunning photos under any light condition, the Moto G4 Plus allows millennials to dance their photography woes away and capture priceless moments seamlessly. The wide-angle 5MP front camera can deliver stunning groufies and selfies that will surely make Facebook friends green with envy. The phone’s advanced imaging technology adjusts to any light through two additional auto-focus innovations, delivering clear colors and sharp details on a par with professional cameras.

Moto G Turbo: Boost your performance

The Moto G Turbo lasts the whole day without the need to plug it into a wall socket or power bank. Powered by

a 2470mAh battery, this phone is perfect for millennials who want to run the world sans the wires. The Moto G Turbo is also equipped with an impressive TurboPower feature, which delivers up to 6 hours of power after just 15 minutes of charging.

The Moto G Turbo delivers breakneck speed and enhanced performance to support demanding apps and mobile games with its ultra-fast Qualcomm Snapdragon processor with 1.5GHz octa-core CPU. The 4G phone supports browsing, music and video streaming, and gaming at much faster speeds.

From answering emails in the morning to listening to Spotify come evening, the Moto G Turbo can deliver unfaltering power and consistent connectivity.

Moto G4 Play: More fun, more affordable

Users can now play to their heart’s content with the Moto G4 Play, which boasts a Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 processor with a quad-core CPU, 2GB

memory and a 2800mAh battery that lasts from morning until night.

The Moto G Play makes play functional without taking away the fun.

Gone are the days of endless browsing through albums to search for a specific photo. Millennials can finally keep their social and professional lives in check with smart, clutter-free apps such as Google Photos, which allows photo editing and sharing in real-time.

Users can enjoy games and apps without having to worry about damaging the phone. The Moto G4 Play’s splash-proof and water-resistant nano coating protects the device from spills, accidental splashes and even a little rain!

The Moto G4 Plus retails at P13,999 and is available at selected MemoXpress and Silicon Valley outlets (SM North EDSA, SM Megamall and SM Mall of Asia). Users can get the Moto G4 Play exclusively for free when they avail of the Smart GIGA Plan 999. They can also get the Moto G Turbo exclusively for free with the Globe MyLifeStyle Plan 799.

WORLD'S 1ST LITHIUM BATTERY ENHANCED EVEN MORE ENERGIZER is enhancing the consumer device experience with its improved Energizer Ultimate Lithium AA battery.

This advancement fuels devices with more power for even longer to meet consumers’ evolving battery needs.

“Lithium batteries are known for their long-lasting, high performance—and just one of many uses for these topperforming batteries is the Internet of Things,” said Michelle Atkinson, Chief Consumer Officer at Energizer. “Our lives are increasingly powered by a network of high-tech devices, operating behind the scenes to make everyday tasks easier.

These technologies work together to heat our homes with smart thermostats and provide security assurance through monitoring systems. Such conveniences are made possible by lithium batteries—and can now perform even better due to the enhanced Energizer Ultimate Lithium.”

With its run-time and performance improvements, Energizer Ultimate Lithium

This means that flashlights shine bright- remotes from farther away through maraer for longer, camera flashes turn over faster thon gaming sessions.

Enhancements to the battery defor longer and consumers can use wireless sign will enable the improved Energizer Ultimate Lithium AA to boost run-time performance by 8 to 15 percent, making it the “World’s Highest Energy and Longest Lasting” AA battery.

“Today we enhanced our lithium batteries to feature even more power and longer run-time,” Atkinson said. “Our scientists are looking toward the future to continue our innovation journey to develop groundbreaking ways to produce batteries that meet our consumers’ changing needs and deliver long-lasting performance.”

Th e i m p rove d E n e rgi ze r U l t i mate Lithium AA batteries are available in all leading stores nationwide.

To get more information and news, follow Energizer on their Facebook page at https:// www.facebook.com/energizerPH/ and visit Enhancements to the battery design will enable the improved Energizer their website at http://www.energizer.com.

Ultimate Lithium AA to boost run-time performance by 8 to 15 percent. ph/Energizerv2/.

helps devices operate at peak performance and is the world’s highest energy premium AA battery.

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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2017 rumallari@thestandard.com.ph

1ST TECH, GADGETS EXPO SET SUBTERRANEAN Ideas will be holding the First Philippine Tech and Gadgets Expo on May 13 and 14, a first of its kind, interactive trade show featuring the country’s latest tech innovations and devices.

Name it, the TGX will have it, from smar tphones and phablets, from dash cameras to pocket projec tors and bluetooth-enabled sunglasses to new games, apps and smart TVs. The convention aims to bring together millennials who are passionate about technological innovations, always on the lookout for sales and products that provide solutions to their everyday living. The TGX also seeks to highlight what makes a certain product click, its features that make it a standout and how it fits the lifestyle of those in need of it.

“We want to bring together people that are passionate on the newest technological innovations, highlighting invention and the latest trends in the industry of technology,” said Maritess Raborar, project manager of the TGX. “We also want this event to serve as a platform for new and emerging companies to showcase their own innovative and latest products.”

What makes this TGX different from other trade shows is its interactive nature, meaning its a will get to test the product first-hand and react accordingly. Like if a certain smartphone boasts of a good camera, exhibit goers get to take their selfies using the product, with their photos going straight to the social media platforms of the said company.

Further boosting the tech aura and ambience of the TGX are various online games, up to 50% off on gadgets and an EDM party to conclude a fullpacked techie day.

Prospective sponsors and exhibitors can contact Raborar at tel. nos. 09182392009 and 09773192321.

ePLDT...

From D4 Eric Alberto, ePLDT Group President and CEO, added that the Award epitomizes ePLDT’s stronghold as a trusted partner in the country’s IT industry, which was built with its investments in global-quality infrastructure, and more importantly, in world-class expertise.

“We have a strong team of pacesetters who are committed to delivering best-of-breed solutions to businesses—a team that is customer-centric which creates solutions that matter,” Alberto said.

In 2014, ePLDT won the same Cisco 2-Tier Partner of the Year Award for meeting requirements in personnel, support and specialization. The digital innovator demonstrated that it has the capability to sell, install and manage Cisco products and services in the country.

Jovy Hernandez, First Vice President and Head of PLDT and Smart Enterprise Groups said: “SMEs and Large enterprises in the country need a reliable partner that can help them drive their growth. That’s what ePLDT does, offering the right solutions backed by the right people to enable businesses not only to thrive but to innovate and disrupt.”

Cisco designs and sells broad lines of products, provides services and delivers intelligent solutions to develop and connect networks around the world for more than 30 years.

Learn more about ePLDT and its broad range of services. Visit the website at www.epldt.com.

D4

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2017 Riera U. Mallari, Editor rumallari@thestandard.com.ph

Gadgets & Games ENSURE EARLY DETECTION WITH DINION IN environments with limited vision due to poor lighting, smoke or complete darkness, the Bosch DINION IP thermal 8000 camera offers excellent thermal performance, built-in Intelligent Video Analytics and outstanding corrosion resistance (meeting the EN 50130-5 salt mist test, withstanding up to 1000 hours of salt/mist under test conditions).

This makes it ideal for outdoor use in mission-critical applications such as perimeter protections of airports, critical infrastructures, government buildings and bridges.

Early object detection

Manila Standard photographer Sonny Espiritu and his Tamron 50-600mm f/5-6.3 SP Di VC USD lens in action during the Miss Universe beauty pageant. At right, a photo of Philippine bet Maxine Medina using Tamron lens.

TAMRON LENS: ALL-AROUND BEAST

By Peter Paul Duran

M

ANY will say the 200mm+ range in lenses is exclusive only for wildlife enthusiasts prowling the sahara.

But with Tamron’s without compromising 150-600mm f/5-6.3 SP image quality.

Di VC USD lens, long“The equipment is range photography an extension of your need not be reserved skills,” said Espiritu after only for birds and nareviewing the lens for ture, but for any coverthe 65th Miss U pagage calling for the need eant at the Mall of Asia of intimacy in distance.

Arena a couple of days Telephoto lenses back. “This a once-in-aare the ‘big guns’ of lifetime event and the photography. These lens helped me capture bad boys can intimithis very rare instance.” date any photogra“In my more than pher, scaring any hobtwo decades as a phoIris Mittenaere byist or professional. tojournalist, never There’s a reason these lenses are kept have I held and utilized such a powfor specific occasions and used by erful lens, this is the first time I’m able the seasoned shooter. to use a lens that is high in quality but But for Manila Standard senior is also affordable at the same time,” staff photographer Sonny Espiritu, he said of the lens lent by Lightroom who was able to use the Tamron 150- Corporation, along with a Benro tri600mm for the Miss Universe Pageant pod for the coverage of the coveted just last week, the lens is an all-around beauty contest. glass fit for capturing far-away subjects He added: “I’m not particular with

any brand, but I’m really impressed with this Tamron lens. I could say that this lens is perfect for newspapers and suitable for people working for print publications.”

For Sonny, the Tamron 150-600mm f/5-6.3 SP Di VC USD lens is the perfect lens for these kind of coverages, especially when he was stationed at the top of the MoA Arena rafters.

“When I took pictures using the Tamron 150-600, I was approximately 200 meters away from the stage.

But I was still able to photograph the girls from head to toe, and I wasn’t even on the first row, we were at the General admission!”

The lens provides photographers with a tad additional reach to better access wildlife, sports, and other types of photography which require you to capture distant subjects. The lens also provides a Ultra Silent Drive Motor which offers faster auto focus, as well as minimal noise in the AF motor when focusing. It certainly has the 4s of a good lens: speedy, silent, sharp and smooth.

But that’s just us talking, here are the specs: ‘Vibration Correction’ optical image stabilization; 150-600mm focal length (225-900mm equivalent on APS-C);‘UltraSonic Drive’ autofocus motor; F5-6.3

maximum aperture; Camera Mounts: Canon EF, Nikon F, Sony A;Max/Min Aperture: f/5.0-6.3; f/32-40; Minimum Focus Distance: 8.86 ft (2.7m); Aperture Blades: 9; Removable Tripod Collar; Image Stabilzation, Vibration Compensation (Canon, Nikon); Weighs less than 2kgs.

“The lens is really easy to handle, I didn’t have any hassles using the lens in my coverage,” added Sonny.

“It’s really comfortable, and a very undemanding lens.”

Although there were some chromatic aberrations entering the farthest focal length, there was minimal vignetting at the 600mm mark--a common weakness for some of its counterparts at this point. Consumers can really get a remarkable and highperformance lens that shines in its class. A real heavyweight in its division.

The Tamron 150-600mm f/5-6.3 SP Di VC USD lens as well as other camera equipment and accessories are available at Lightroom Corporation. You can contact the company with these numbers: Mobile Phone: +63917-553-92-47 Telephone: +632-577-90-60.

Also, visit their facebook page at https://business.facebook. com/lightroom.ph/ or website at lightroom.ph

FACEBOOK LITE REACHES 200M+ USERS

FACEBOOK announced today that Facebook Lite, a lightweight version of Facebook, doubled its number of users in less than a year and now serves more than 200 million monthly active users around the world.

The app now supports 55 languages and is popular in many countries including Brazil, India, Indonesia, Mexico, and the Philippines.

Facebook Lite was developed to provide the op-

timum Facebook experience for users in areas with slow internet connections, or with low end devices or limited internet packages. The software uses less data, installs fast, loads quickly and works on all types of Androids, supporting all networks including 2G. Today it is being launched in four additional countries: Israel, Italy, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates, and we hope to roll out in more

ePLDT RECEIVES CISCO AWARD ePLDT, Inc., an industryleading enabler of digital business solutions to enterprises in the Philippines, was awarded as the 2-Tier Partner of the Year by Cisco Philippines during the recently concluded Cisco Partner Conference 2017 at Solaire Resort and Casino, Manila City. The Award is given to organizations that set the standards in revenue growth performance and commitment to innovation.

ePLDT helped Cisco expand its business to new geographies by winning key deals in the BPO sector through its unique service offerings.

According to Nerisse Ramos, ePLDT Group Chief Operating Officer, it was ePLDT’s strategic imperative to drive managed service growth that brought about big wins from enterprise verticals primarily in BPO, Hospitality and Manufacturing.

“We want to thank Cisco for recognizing our efforts in bringing innovative solutions to enterprises that solve their real-life business concerns,” Ramos said. “Our company has been setting the pace for IT innovation in the country.

And with our long-standing and still growing partnership with Cisco, we will can enable fresher and more relevant technologies as well as valuecreating IT solutions to the country.”

Turn to D3

countries soon.

During the past year the Facebook Lite team has improved many things, including the performance for a faster and more reliable experience; the look and feel to make sure people have an simple and good experience; and the onboarding process so people can easily log on and off their account when sharing devices.

What makes the DINION IP thermal 8000 camera so special is the combination of thermal imaging and standard Intelligent Video Analytics at the edge.

Combining these features makes the camera suitable for applications that require video content analysis over larger distances up to 762m. The state-of-the-art Intelligent Video Analytics enables the camera to differentiate between genuine security events and known false triggers such as challenging environments or applications that require video content analysis over larger distances.

The DINION IP thermal 8000 camera offers a choice in resolutions: QVGA or VGA. Configuring the on-board analytics is easy thanks to the built-in gyro sensor. This sensor provides the most important values needed for automatic set up—simply enter the height of the camera to complete the configuration process.

Data Security

Bosch is driving a four-step approach to maximize data security by considering physical and cyber security. It involves creating trust, securing data, managing user access rights and meeting IT industry standards.

Because the camera is often the most remote outpost in a network, it is easily overlooked when implementing data security measures. We have several measures in place to secure our cameras.

One measure is that all Bosch IP cameras feature a unique, built-in Trusted Platform Module (TPM). This safely store all certificates a n d keys needed for authentication and encryption.

Even in cases DINION IP of unauthorized thermal 8000 access, the TPM ensures that the keys cannot be retrieved.

For more information, please visit: www.boschsecurity.asia

Jovy Hernandez, First Vice President and Head of PLDT Enterprise; Eric Alberto, ePLDT Group President and CEO; and Nerisse Ramos, ePLDT Group Chief Operating Officer proudly show off the Cisco 2-Tier Partner Award trophy.

E1

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2017 Isah V. Red, Editor

/

Young Life

Bernadette Lunas, Issue Editor isahred@gmail.com.ph

Scan this icon to view the PDF

Josef Escoto's song titled 'Invincible' is named the grand winner in Pioneer Insurance's songwriting contest

SONGWRITING CONTEST ENCOURAGES MOVING ON

LOVE

By Peter Paul Duran TO MOVE on is to bounce back from setbacks—whether from a natural disaster or heartbreak; from a battle that’s been lost. And Filipinos are best in this front.

Thus to celebrate the Filipino trait of resiliency, as well as encourage the youth to pursue artistic endeavors, Pioneer Insurance, in partnership with FILSCAP and One Music PH, launched the #MoveOnLang Songwriting Contest.

Young aspiring songwriters, ages 15 to 24, from various uni universities and colleges vied for the title of being Pioneer Insurance’s #MoveOnLang Songwriting Com Competition grand winner. Entries were submitted from Sept. 22 to Nov. 15, 2016.

From a total of 150 song entries, 10 made it to the finals night, but it was Josef Escoto who proved “Invincible” among all finalists, win winning the P100,000 cash prize.

Benjamin Quijano came in second with his song “Aking Mundo,” and brought home P50,000, while “Alive” by Kenneth Roquid earned him P30,000 and a third place nod from the judges bannered by FILSCAP Chairman Nonoy Tan, Pioneer Life Inc. President Lorenzo Chan Jr. Jr., One Music PH Editor-in-Chief Joy Mesina, FILSCAP Trustee Noel Cabangon, and FILSCAP President Rico Blanco.

Pioneer also awarded the re remaining seven finalists with P10,000 each. Julia Dichoso’s song “Hand in Hand” received 44.96 percent of online votes and was crowned Online favorite.

Pioneer also gave a Special Recognition Award to Drei Chua of San Beda College Alabang for his entry “Bangon,” an exceptional composition that organizers felt perfectly describes Pioneer’s promise to its clients. Aside from the cash prize, all winners received P100,000 worth of insurance coverage from Pioneer.

Listen to the winning song entries on www.moveonlang.ph and Pioneer Insurance’s Soundcloud (www.soundcloud.com/pioneerph). They are also available on Spotify, iTunes and Google Play.

IN THE TIME OF SOCIAL MEDIA

By Bernadette Lunas

W

E HAVE never been much closer to each other as we are today. Thanks to the Internet and social media we can easily update our loved ones on our recent endeavours and talk to them in a snap—with live videos and emojis to boot.

Yet despite of the virtual closeness we tend to feel distant to one another.

Case in point: group of friends together for dinner; sitting at one table, faces buried on their mobile phones. It’s called being “alone together,” which happens when we’re in the company of other people yet we distance our offline selves and instead focus on our relationship with them online.

And it is just as bad when it happens to two people in love; when two intimate souls choose to express their love on social media—for the world to see—rather than show it to each other when no one else is present to “like” or put a virtual “heart” on their actions.

These platforms are powerful. They may have allowed us to connect in a few clicks and taps, but they could also be the very thing that separates us.

Nicole (not her real name) is online almost 12 hours a day. She constantly posts photos of herself and her boyfriend, and promptly responds to comments of their friends.

She communicates with her significant other mostly via chat since they live one 40-minute bus ride from each other, and when they meet, she said they would talk for a while and then drift off browsing on their respective phones. They broke up six months ago.

“I guess we no longer felt that connection we had during the early stage of our relationship. Suddenly we felt more comfortable talking online than we did offline,” she related.

Turn to E2

HEALTHY RELATIONSHIP, ACTIVE ONLINE SOCIAL LIFE. A relationship expert suggests that couples should know how to make social media an asset in fostering their relationship online and, more importantly, offline.

WHERE TO TAKE YOUR BABE ON VALENTINE’S DAY TAKING your sweetheart to a romantic dinner date in a fancy restaurant or a hip dining spot to share meals and sweet nothings is thoughtful and more than enough.

But why not add a little spice to your celebration by heading out for a Valentine’s Day adventure? Besides, there are only a few things that make two people closer than being together discovering new places.

A tour for two

more time and budget, schedule a trip to tour sible destinations you can go to on a weekend. the famous islands in Batanes.

Whichever city you visit, you’re bound to discover great things with your partner.

Beach bonding

Avoid the traffic on the 14th and chill out by the sea. Drive north, during which you two can spend more time together, to Calatagan and Laiya in Batangas. If you can go a bit further, fly to Boracay or Palawan.

Quick

There are plenty of two-day backpacking out-of-the-country trip tours that you can take part in with your loved Take your celebration notches higher by visone. Discover new things that you can enjoy in iting nearby countries. Hong Kong, Taiwan and Baguio, Ilocos, Cebu or Anawangin. If you have Singapore are some of the best and most acces-

No adventure is complete without the right gear, so be sure to prepare for your getaway with the proper footwear and sturdy, dependable bags to carry all your essentials. Merrell offers a wide array of shoes and bags fit for different kinds of adventure.

Prepare for your getaway with proper footwear and dependable bags

Young Life

E2

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2017 isahred@gmail.com

HEARTWARMING

JOLLIBEE VALENTINE SERIES

THOSE who find joy in loving unconditionally, those who never give up on love, and those who love endlessly felt all kinds of #feels when homegrown fast food chain Jollibee released its three-part Valentine series.

Facebook erupted with hugots when Jollibee rolled out the first in its three-part series entitled “Vow.” The Ianco Dela Cruz-directed video instantly became viral shortly after it was posted on the fast food's Facebook page, it got 10 million views within 24 hours. It follows the story of a guy who meets “the one” at Jollibee, falls in love with her, and vows to make her happy. But the plot twist in the end struck people down to their core.

“Crush,” meanwhile, is a feel-good romanic tale set in the '80s, about a young college guy who expresses his adoration for his crush through Yumburger with memos. During their homecoming, the now old college student still makes the romantic gesture he did for the girl he fell in love with.

The video is directed by Joel Ruiz.

The last installment, “Date” tackles the never-ending love of a couple. Directed

by Pepe Diokno, the most dramatic video among the three shows a young boy preparing a perfect Valentine's date for his mom by following his father's—who can't be with them—instructions.

Aside from celebrating the joy of love and melting people's hearts, perhaps the other great thing that came out from Jollibee's heartwarming series is that people suddenly craved for 2-piece Chickenjoy, Yumburger and Jolly Spaghetti.

CHICKEN NUGGETS BOUQUET

AND OTHER UNUSUAL GIFTS FOR VALENTINE’S DAY

By John Ray Villanueva

B

OUQUET of flowers and chocolates again? Be more creative and give your beloved something unique and from the heart. Nowadays, it’s no longer who gave the most expensive gift, but who exerted the most effort in it.

Here are some unconventional Valentine’s Day gifts you can give to your significant other that they probably won’t expect but will surely appreciate.

Non-flower bouquet

JOLLIFEELS. Jollibee celebrates different

kinds of love in its three-part Valentine series

LOVE...

From E1

Despite the ubiquity of social media, some people think that communication through this platform is “not real” or “not intimate” compared with faceto-face conversation. But relationship coach Krista Haapala in her article on goodmenproject.com posited that social media is not to be blamed for couples’ troubles. She said that, just like physical conversation, social media also offers human-to-human connection.

“We need to realize that feeling of distance from the emotional consequences of online communication is a figment of our imagination,” she wrote, further saying “It will be as useful to our relationship as we make it. We just need to learn how.”

The sex and relationship expert said that the key is to relate to the actual human behind those profile pictures and online posts. “That can take cognitive and emotional shift to behave in the digital world just as you would if you were in the physical presence of your partner or anyone else.”

Meanwhile, “oversharing” on social media is another factor that is said to put a damper on relationships. According to a study, oversharing can often mean that the couple is masking their insecurities by seeking validation from their friends and followers. Website Bright Side revealed that happy couples don’t need to broadcast anything because they don’t have the need to do so.

Social media is here to stay, probably longer than most relationships there are now. While everyone is entitled to post and share anything they want on their accounts, it’s best to determine first how would you really like to be perceived as a couple and a single entity. Talking about disagreements on each other’s “walls” or making sweeping statements for other people to see may not be a great idea.

Solving problems in the privacy of each other’s company is better.

As long as we know how to make social media an asset rather than a liability, it is possible to have a healthy relationship and active online social life, according to Haapala.

Truly, a bouquet of flowers is great, but a bouquet of something that does not wither in three days and is more personalized is legendary.

Take for example what Rico Villanueva gave his girlfriend, Annika Aguinaldo. Instead of giving her flowers for their one-month anniversary, he gave her chicken nuggets.

“I told him I didn’t like flowers, so he got me a bouquet of chicken nuggets, and I pretty much became the happiest girl on the planet,” said Aguinaldo in her tweet that went viral.

You can also try giving a bouquet of french fries or treats covered with bacon. But if you want to go on the healthy side, give your sweetheart a bouquet of fruits or Fruiquet.

At the end of the day, giving them a bouquet of anything will surely make them happy on Valentine’s day.

writing your love story that you can share to the world.

American novelist John Updike once said, “We are most alive when we’re in love.” Indeed, it won’t hurt to put some effort in the gift you’re giving to your dearest.

Wish jar

To make this gift, you only need a small jar, strips of colored paper, and goals you want to fulfil with your loved one.

The true essence of this gift comes after you gave it to them. You can start unrolling the strips of paper you put inside and create more memories with them. After fulfilling said goals, put the date of when you’ve accomplished it at the back of the paper.

This gift does not only hold words inside, but memories shared with them that you will never forget.

Letters book

Reading other people’s love stories is nice, but creating your own is a hundred miles better.

In creating the Letters book, you need to compile envelopes, notes and other prompts that you can use to start the story of your love with them. In here, you can record all memories, thoughts and emotions you shared together through the years..

Give them the Letters book on Valentine’s Day so you can start UNCONVENTIONAL PRESENTS. Give chocolates and flower bouquets a rest this year, and go for unusual Valentine's gift to surprise your loved one. (Photos of Annika Aguinaldo from @AnnikaAgs Twitter account)

NO DATE? CONQUER SUMMITS YOU never have to feel sorry for yourself if you have no one to celebrate Valentine’s Day with.

Just put things in perspective: Maybe you’re not meant—at this moment—to be with someone else; you’re meant for greater things, for conquering new heights.

Speaking of new heights, why not set out on a solo hike instead of sulking or feeling bitter on Feb. 14? Immerse yourself in nature to clear your mind.

Here’s a list of day hikes near the metro you can go to on the day of hearts.

Mt. Maculot

If you love spectacular views, this mountain is a good option. It’s perfect for early morning hikes when the air is cool and the light is just slowly creeping in. Slip on a pair of Merrell’s Capra Bolt Leather and be sure-footed while on the way up to the summit.

Mt. Pamitinan

Take in the spectacular view from the peak of Mt. Maculot

dealing with grassy fields and little shade as there aren’t many trees in the area. The summit of Mt. Talamitan provides a 360-degree view of the Taal Lake and the nearby Mt. Batulao. Rise above this mountain’s trail when you hike with Capra Rise.

Mt. Pinatubo

Part of the Zambales mountain range, this majestic mountain is regarded as one of the country’s most popular destinations for many reasons—one of which is that it nestles a beautiful and immaculate crater lake. Be ready to strike a pose in the surrounding view with your Moab FST.

This city dweller-friendly mountain in Montalban, Rizal has beautiful limestone rock formation and Mt. Batolusong scenic views. Gear up with Merrell’s Annex Metro Ever dreamed of reaching a summit above the and know no boundaries as you explore the amaz- clouds? Schedule a trip to Tanay, Rizal and head ing view of this mountain. straight to Mt. Batolusong. When you reach the peak, revel in the sea of clouds and grasslands Mt. Talamitan with awesome views of neighboring provinces.

The hike on this mountain, located on the Wear your Capra Rapid in this hike and experiother side of Mt. Batulao in Batangas, involves ence secure fit.

Showbiz

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2017

E3

THE NEW FACE OF PROUD GAY MEN

N

OWADAYS, it’s hard to identify gay men from straight unless you mingle with them because that’s the only way to know whether someone is straight or otherwise. Take Sinon Loresca, who captured the attention of TV audience because of his well-defined muscles, for example.

Seeing one photo will give anyone a hard time telling if he’s gay or straight because of his muscular built that can give even Derek Ramsay a run for his money. But the real reason why Sinon hit the gym and totally changed his image is quite surprising. It took him five years to transfor himself into his fine look.

In one of his Instagram posts, Sinon gives his followers a glimpse of his body transformation from a lanky gay man “bullied for looking weak and effeminate” to a gay macho who now gets the world’s attention. Paraphrasing his caption for the photo, the openly gay man revealed that he decided to change his image because he doesn’t want to be bullied anymore and that he’d like to serve as an inspiration to all gays who have been bullied because of the way they look and act.

His fitness transformation, which can either intimidate or inspire gay and straight men alike, has served as his ticket to showbiz. Initially known as Rogelia of Eat Bulaga’s “Kalyeserye,” he has already appeared in a couple movies including Bakit Lahat ng Gwapo May Boyfriend? and Enteng Kabisote 10 and the

Daniel Matsunaga and Erich Gonzales during happier times

ERICH

This screengrab of Sinon Loresca strutting like a beauty queen has been shared across social media platforms and has been picked up by major international news outfits.

Abangers. And apart from Eat Bulaga, he had a short stint in the defunct late morning series Calle Siete and Magpakailanman.

Most recently, Sinon took the online world by storm when he took to his Facebook page ahead of the Miss Universe pageant to share a video of himself walking outdoors in a bright blue Speedo and studded peep-toe six-inch heels.

The clip begins with him shaking his hips and doing a spin before striking a pose with his hands on his hip. Sinon confidently struts down the sidewalk while taking the occasional spin to show off his catwalk skills. At the end of the clip, he raises his hand and yells: “Maxine Medina, 26, Phillipines.”

The now viral clip has been viewed seven million times on his Facebook page and shared by more than 100 thousand Facebook users.

Online platform and social media website 9gag picked up Sinon’s video. In its Facebook page, the one-minute video has garnered more than 27 million views.

Due to this sudden popularity, the buff comedian posted another video of him, this time tearfully thanking his “dabarkads” for making his videos trend worldwide. Although emotional, he’s able to pull off the video message a la Pia Wurtzbach. The overwhelmed Sinon also shared on Instagram, that the news that a U.S. medical TV show, The Doctors, has showed interest in featuring him in their program.

Indeed, Sinon has come a long way. But little did many people know, he’s not just about strutting like a beauty queen or making his followers chuckle at his funny antics.

Prior to his viral catwalk video, an Instagram user posted a photo of Sinon spending time with street dwellers. As someone who grew up in poverty, the SocMed personality has a soft heart for the downtrodden especially to those children who wander Manila’s impoverished neighborhoods.

And yes, Sinon gives proud gay men a new face – confidently macho with a heart. Nickie Wang

SOCMED SUPERSTAR. Striking a pose seems to be his favorite pastime.

CROSSWORD PUZZLE Sunday, February 12, 2017

ACROSS 1 Fable ending 6 Windows precursor (hyph.)

11 Vestige 16 — and desist 21 Noted soap vixen 22 Coeur d’—, Idaho 23 Plat anew 24 “Miami Vice” actor 25 Rock bottom 26 Handbag logo 27 Of the hipbone 28 Reddish horses 29 Winter fun 31 Related to Mom 33 “Shanghai —” 35 Dead heat 36 Kind of prof.

37 Toupees, slangily 39 Inventor — Howe 41 Strategies 43 Krypton, for one 46 Bursts of wind 48 Celts, to Romans 49 Holiday glitter 52 Laugh-a-minute 54 Faces 56 Storybook elephant 60 Going amok (3 wds.)

62 Bear of little brain 64 Pasta partner 66 Huge, in combos 67 Liquid amts.

68 Patella site 70 Strong alkalis 72 Jack, in cards 74 Fruit-bearing tree 75 Cyrus’ realm, today 77 The facts 79 Mlle. in Barcelona 81 Spiky flower 82 Fiesta cheer 83 Panama port 85 Finger-paint 87 — Hari (Garbo role) 89 Planning a wedding 91 Web suffix 93 Sieves 96 D.C. figure 97 Lighter, as piecrust 101 Supplant 102 Draw with a laser 104 To date (2 wds.)

108 Prefix with ate 109 WWII pilots from Down Under 111 Far East cuisine 113 Looked for damages 115 Mystique 116 — been had!

117 Tupelo phenom 119 I say!

121 Feat or title 123 Diarist Anais — 124 Sublet 126 Fries and slaw 128 Zatopek or Jannings

130 132 134 136 138 139 141 143 145 149 151 152 156 157 159 161 163 165 167 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177

Pulled along Opposite of nopes Sherpa’s country Cutting remark Does the trick U.K. lexicon Soft purple Horror-film menaces Place to borrow from Keep occupied Eggnog time Norway’s patron saint Pay-TV letters Chlorophyll factory Beyond banal Jelly not for toast Fujiyama neighbor Anthill Auction action Skips sweets Canary cousin More pristine Protruding window Silver bar MacDowell of film Brass, e.g.

Unfettered Mall frequenters

DOWN 1 High-IQ society 2 Doctoral exams 3 Goes on horseback 4 Final proof (2 wds.)

5 Fat 6 Bottle of champagne 7 Fly swatter?

8 Solstice mo.

9 Formerly 10 Trawler net 11 Isotope of hydrogen 12 Press statements 13 Mademoiselle’s date 14 “Slither” lead 15 Disney site 16 Pipe material 17 “Xanadu” rockers 18 Stradivari’s teacher 19 — boom 20 Mountain curves 30 Hibernia, now 32 Trig cousin 34 Numbskull 38 Crop 40 Vegan’s taboo 42 Pair of mules 44 Scallion kin 45 Cat’s-paw 47 Overcharged 49 Debate issue 50 Survey course 51 Twangy, as a voice 53 Fiddles with 55 Snake plate 57 Make blurry 58 Limber 59 Stormed 61 Interpret tea leaves

63 65 69 71 73 76 78 80 84 86 88 90 92 94 95 97 98 99 100 103 105 106 107 110 112 114 118 120 122

Recluse’s hut Linda of “Dynasty” LAX guesses Hockey’s — Mikita Beats by a hair Arrow notch Detroit industry Fits to — — Bete — Dry, as bubbly Bonsai and ikebana Dwarf buffalo Daily trio Memorable tennis champ Race by, as clouds Baby-tooth taker Sandbags, maybe Wrestling locale Seizure of prey Listen carefully Mushrooms, actually “The Little Mermaid” Ayn and Sally Che was his cohort Poet’s foot Wrecks, as a train Tintype hue Cameron — of films Kevin Kline film

125 Hammer-wielder of myth 127 “Rebel Without a Cause” star (2 wds.)

129 Hubbard of sci-fi (2 wds.)

131 Pit stop purchase 133 Liner route (2 wds.)

135 Dirty linen 137 Cheap flicks (hyph.)

140 Rapper Dr. — 142 1860s initials 144 Sexton 145 — apso 146 “Ghosts” playwright 147 Piece of lumber 148 Colorado river 150 Register (var.)

153 Vassal 154 Playwright Chekhov 155 Big celebrations 158 Bad-smelling 160 He designed the Gateway Arch 162 Fix typos 164 1002, for Caesar 166 Website address 168 Publicity info

CONFIRMS

‘IT’S OVER’

MILLIONS of her followers on social media were still shocked, although they were already expecting it, when Erich Gonzales confirmed in an interview on Thursday that her relationship with Daniel Matsunaga has ended.

“We are not together anymore. It’s over,” the emotional Kapamilya star said in an interview with ABS-CBN. The actress reassured though that there’s no third party involved and she doesn’t want to comment any further because she just wanted to move on. They were together for two years.

“I just want to move on. Hindi po kami nag-uusap. (We’re not talking to each other) It’s not true that we’re talking. Hindi po kami magkaibigan.

Walang third party po (We’re not friends. There’s no third party in the breakup),” she stated.

Daniel has yet to give his statement but kibitzers suspect that the reason of their split is similar to what happened between the Brazilian Japanese actor and his ex-girlfriend Heart Evangelista. Rumors circulated that Heart and Daniel parted ways due to financial issues.

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Showbiz

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2017 Isah V. Red, Editor / Nickie Wang, Issue Editor isahred@gmail.com

6 DATE MOVIES

FOR THE MILLENIALS VALENTINE season is upon us once more, and with the flowers, the love letters, and the chocolate also come the movies that tell tales of different romances.

Today, we are listing down six romantic movies, a mix of foreign and local, that shape the romantic fantasies of today’s millenials.

DELICIOUS TREAT. Maja Salvador flanked by Joseph Marco (left) and Vin Abrenica (right) in a photo shoot for the sexy afternoon drama, "Wildflower."

By Nickie Wang

A

T LEAST in a television series called Wildflower.

Carrying the tagline, “Revenge has never been this wild,” the sexy drama that debuts tomorrow is about a scorned woman who wants to take revenge.

In a three-minute trailer uploaded on ABS-CBN Entertainment YouTube channel last week, Maja is described as a sultry young woman who is out to avenge the death of her biological parents.

The clip starts with scenes from her family’s past in a province ruled by a powerful clan. The next scenes take viewers to her father (Christian Vasquez) suspiciously dying of heart attack and then her mom (Sunshine Cruz) being abused.

She’s able to escape the wrath of the abusers then finds herself in the home of good Samaritan (Priscilla Meirelles), who adopts her and raises her like her own.

The last 30 seconds of the trailer shows Maja’s character (now all grown up) meeting her family’s old nemesis and the young men (Joseph Marco and Vin Abrenica) who would continue to rule the province where she grew up.

Another sneak peak

released in November shows Maja entering a huge door leading to a dark hall dragging a long hammer behind her back. Installed inside the dimly lit hall is a sculpture of their province’s former leader. Maja comes faces to face with the bust, she releases her anger on it and smashes it with the hammer. The trailer ended with a close-up shot of Maja’s face, which looks like she has finally started her evil plan.

The preview already gives people the idea on what kind of woman Maja is going to portray – she is seductive, beautiful and yet full of mystery.

The 28-year-old actress admits that the character is a complete opposite of her cheerful personality in real life that is why she considers the television project as one of the most challenging assignments she’s done so far.

The series also showcases an overflowing machismo with Joseph Marco and Vin Abrenica, including RK Bagatsing, showing off their chiseled physique, almost all the time possible – while in the rain, in the bedroom, in the outdoors, you name it. This prompted fans to ask the actress if she would show the same kind of boldness, too.

“You will either just hate or love my character. That’s for sure. But showing some skin, let’s just give it to the boys. I have three leading men who will fight for your attention,” she said in a recent interview.

ELLA CRUZ AND LIZA SOBERANO’S VIRAL DANCE COVERS

Viral babe Ella Cruz and teen star Julian Trono

FANS are going crazy over Ella Cruz showing off sexy moves dancing to Bruno Mars’ “Versace on the Floor,” and with Liza Soberano dancing to the tunes of “Juicy Wiggle” and “Juju on the Beat.”

Ella’s video featuring Kapuso teen star Julian Trono has amassed 1.5 million views on YouTube in matter of days. Although the reaction of the people who saw the video was somewhat mixed, a reasonable number of viewers likened the video to Ella’s another dance cover that reached almost 10 million

views to date.

Meanwhile, Liza and her onscreen partner Enrique Gil have just made another dance challenge quite a hit among netizens. The trending video shows Liza dancing with a male dancer at the beginning of the clip. A few seconds later, Enrique replaced the male dancer to dance with Liza before they were joined a group of dancers.

The video, according to their fans, shows how versatile Liza and Quen are. And we couldn’t agree more.

Liza and Quen always have something for their fans

One More Chance Hailed as the most unforgettable “Hugot” Tagalog romantic movie of all time, the plot revolves around lovers Popoy (John Lloyd Cruz) and Basha (Bea Alonzo), who find themselves drifting apart. In the process, they learn that pain and failure are sometimes integral to growing up and making a relationship work. Popularizing the three-month rule and “hugot” lines, this film has defined the millennials’ view on love and heartbreak.

My Amnesia Girl Despite having a title that can make you want to gouge your eyes out, the movie is a simple, yet wonderful story. It is well acted, well directed, with Cathy GarciaMolina at the helm. Released in 2010, the film features Apollo (John Lloyd Cruz…yes, he is the king of Tagalog romance), who endures all sorts of challenges to help Irene (Toni Gonzaga) regain her memory. It has, of course, a relatively simple plot, revolving around the aforementioned Glen and Irene’s romance – memories are erased, old romances rekindled, and funny bones are tickled.

That Thing Called Tadhana Starring Angelica Panganiban and JM de Guzman, it is a simple indie movie, with a simple premise.

It asks, like a Whitney Houston song prominently featured in the movie, “Where do broken hearts go?” The plot is so simple, yet it succeeds in eliciting emotions hiding deep within us. There are no exaggerated movie moments, no evil villains, only the heartache of lost love, and the wonderful, heartracing “kilig” of a newly blooming romance.

A Walk to Remember This isn’t your typical love story because when it comes down to it, the love is only part of the whole scheme. This film is every millennials favorite. It is a story of a high-school rebel and bad boy Landon Carter (Shane West) who falls in love with fragile yet fearless Jamie Sullivan (Mandy Moore). It’s the ultimate romantic movie that makes millennials believe that true love can change a person for the better. Talk about #RelationshipGoals.

500 Days of Summer The movie is popular among young lovers amid not being a true love story. It talks about a young man, Tom (Joseph GordonLevitt), meeting Summer (Zooey Deschanel), and instantly falling in love with her. But unfortunately, no matter how hard Tom tries, Summer can’t simply love him back. Why is it a hit? A lot of young people have attested that they’ve been in the same situation many times over.

The Fault in Our Stars It’s a story of two teenagers falling in love. Simple plot? No. Scene to scene, this movie just manages to suck us into this beautiful world of Hazel Grace Lancaster and Augustus Waters played by Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort, respectively. The two teen agers make us believe that love is indeed painful and at the same time can be the most beautiful thing that can happen to any person.